The World Tree
by M.M. Mendell
Summary: The misadventures of Raiden, ROOT agent and reincarnated Pilot. It's been a long time since he's seen the sky in this world, but he knows that one day he'll soar with the clouds once more. (In which Danzo gathers together a bunch of hurt, abandoned, and emotionally-challenged children in an attempt to create the perfect army. It works a little too well.) [AU, SI/OC]
1. Daisy

**Notes/Warnings** : canon-typical violence, subtle attempts at brainwashing, all the terrible crap that comes with being in ROOT (nothing too graphic, I promise), angst with a happy ending. This is basically a study in ROOT, plus a ton of AU elements- long story short, ROOT is the only thing still wrong in this world. Everyone else is alive and happy, only the protagonist and his teammates are suffering. _sorry not sorry_

 **Pairings** : main pairings to be revealed, but other than that there's Sakumo/Orochimaru, Kakashi/Obito, Tsunade/Dan, Kushina/Minato, and other implied or ambiguous pairings.

* * *

["Daisy"- _Innocence; Loyal Love; I'll Never Tell_ ]

* * *

The memories came to him gradually. It was almost unnoticeable, honestly. Simple things, like the feeling of wind blowing through his hair, the gentle sound of rain falling outside his bedroom window.

He'd never had a window in his quarters. The ROOT base was underground.

He didn't really think anything of it. Perhaps they were memories from when he was little, before his mother had died and Danzo-sama took him in. Childhood things that he'd merely forgotten in his rush to fit in more training, be more _useful_ to the man who'd saved his life.

But when his training began to get more intense, more combat-heavy, he knew something was wrong. Well, not _wrong_ , but certainly strange.

When going through his katas, sometimes his feet would slip, falling into patterns he didn't know and had no recollection of learning. His rigid movements would shift into smooth glides, his kicks slicing through the air with more dramatic flair than actual power.

"Dancing," Senpai told him flatly, in the same monotone voice they always addressed him with. "You're dancing."

"I... don't understand," he said carefully, trying not to overtly display his ignorance. "What is 'dancing'?"

Senpai didn't even blink at this show of foolishness, methodically explaining the purpose and typical usage behind this... 'dancing'.

"It is for show," they said, "meant to attract an audience's attention and distract them from the rest of their environment. It can be used as a form of seduction as well. While not typical for our unit, some shinobi are sent on undercover missions in which they have to pretend they are dancers. Particularly Kunoichi, as they can more easily pose as a Geisha and the like."

He nodded in understanding, biting his tongue in order to prevent himself from asking a hundred more questions. While asking for clarification about orders and techniques was encouraged, badgering your superior officer about inane topics was not.

"However," Senpai continued, looking at him in a way he might have described as curiosity if he didn't know better, "I have never seen dancing like yours. The movements are quite... strange."

A surge of indignation welled up in him at that, to his own surprise. He quickly squashed it down, taking care not to let any of his inner battle reflect itself on his face.

Senpai walked around him in a quick circle, blood-red sharingan whirling lazily in their eyes.

"Typically, dancing is done in long, graceful movements. It can be fast, but most professional dances are slow and lethargic. Kabuki dancers are, of course, the exception to that rule. But your dancing is not like that. You are quick, sharp. Your body and movements become smooth, but your steps are small and controlled. I have not encountered this style before."

They stopped in front of him, staring at him with that same unnerving gaze. Sometimes it felt like they were looking right through him. Like he didn't even exist.

"I'll teach you to suppress it," they said finally, tearing their eyes away to continue their pacing. "We can't afford for you to be a liability on the field."

His cheeks flushed with shame, inwardly cursing how this fairer skin didn't do nearly as good a job of masking his blush as his darker skin had before.

At that, he paused. What? His skin had always been like this- he was _Asian_ , for god's sake!

Wait. _What the fuck was an Asian?_ For that matter, what was _latino brazilian america car plane_ _ **flying falling**_ _-  
_  
"Enough!" his Senpai said sharply, cutting through his haze of confusion. "Get up!"

Belatedly, he realized he'd fallen to his knees. His head was spinning, he could barely breath through the sudden mental strain, and the world seemed fuzzy around the edges, like- what was it called?

 _Panic attack,_ came the low whisper, _just breathe.  
_  
He struggled to follow the order, keeping his eyes trained on Senpai's tense form. They were watching him carefully, not crowding in or trying to shut him up again.

 _Breathe!_ His mind screamed. _Breath, breath, breath, breathe, we can't die_ _ **again**_ _-  
_  
He took a shuddering breath, then another. One after the other, more and more until he was finally breathing normally. He looked up, biting his lip. Senpai was probably very angry...

"You're fine," Senpai informed him stoically, almost daring him to question it.

"Yes," he agreed, sucking in another deep breath. He had to get himself under control. Danzo-sama was expecting a progress report that afternoon- he couldn't mess this up. "My apologies, Senpai, I didn't mean to-"

"Forget it," They interrupted, eyes narrowing in an expression that he couldn't really interpret. Upon noticing his confused face (even though he had tried to mask it as quick as he could), they almost seemed to soften. "I mean that. I won't mention it if you won't."

He could only stare at them in shock. "Senpai...?"

 _I've never seen you so emotional,_ he wanted to say, and almost bit his tongue holding it back. That seemed to always be the case. One question answered, another fifty brought to light.

Awkwardly, Senpai grinned at him. It was a clumsy, quavering thing, but it evoked a warm feeling deep inside of him, something both familiar and alien all at once.

"Don't worry, 01604," they assured. "I'll protect you."

He felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he didn't know why. How come this seemed so important, suddenly? What was Senpai protecting him from?

"Yes, Senpai," he murmured complacently.

 _Go along with it for now,_ that same voice urged. _You'll find your answers._

/=\

"Danzo-sama," he said reverently, bowing the deepest his sore muscles would allow. The elder gave him a small smile, the expression pulling at the scars on his face. It should have been intimidating, but it was only comforting.

Danzo-sama had long been the one true consistency in this life, always there with an encouraging word or gentle reprimand. Even Senpai, who he longed to impress, had only been training him for a short time.

"01604," Danzo nodded in greeting. "Izumi has told me of your progress. You have been improving at great lengths, especially since you only started this intensive practice a year and a half ago. I'm certain you'll be ready for full combat in only a few short months."

He resisted the urge to beam, and risked darting a glance at his Senpai. Their face was blank once more, but there was a certain light to their eyes that had nothing to do with the sharingan. Despite the slight happiness he could sense, there was a line of tension to their shoulders.

"Thank you Danzo-sama," he demurred, "I had extremely competent teachers. I hope to do ROOT proud in my field work."

"I have no doubt you will," Danzo said distractedly, turning away to look into the distance.

He could almost see the barest tendrils of light at the end of the long series of tunnels that was his home, and something about that made him itch and want to rip off his skin, but he reigned it in. His hero, the man who had saved his life and given him something to _believe_ in was right there, and he hadn't finished talking.

"You'll do great things with us, boy," he said. "And I will accept nothing less. Potential like yours is not something to be wasted."

"Yes sir," the soldier echoed, a faint mixture of excitement and pride settling in his stomach at the words. He couldn't be bear to let Danzo-sama down, let ROOT down.

He would train. Train until his body followed his every command, until he was the perfect soldier this village needed- no, the soldier they _deserved_.

After all, the greatest lights cast the deepest shadows. And it was his job to make sure that any who tried to take advantage of this village's brightness would face the consequences of invoking the wrath of the greatest of the Hidden Villages.

(Something in the back of his mind was screaming. It always was. But he could never understand it, and wouldn't listen even if he did. He had no time for hazy half-dreams, not when he should have been training, getting _stronger_. The screams got stronger too, louder with every day that passed, still going on in that language he could almost decipher. He ignored it. There were more important things to do.)


	2. Striped Carnation

["Striped Carnation"- _Sorry I Can't Be with You; Wish I Could Be with You_ ]

* * *

He raced through the corridor, cursing under his breath. He was late.

Typically, Senpai collected him from his quarters and brought him to the windowless training room, where he trained for hours under the fluorescent lights. But today, he was going _outside_. Not too far, admittedly- only to one of the nearby training grounds. He wasn't quite going on a real mission yet, but this was a pseudo mission.

The objective was for him to work on his chakra development at training ground 33, close enough for him to make a quick getaway if needed, but far enough away for it to make a difference. He'd been doing a lot of work on his chakra within the last year, and his control was pretty decent. But this would be the ultimate test.

Could he actually do any sort of chakra training without anyone finding out he was there? Granted, 33 wasn't the most popular of training grounds thanks to all the mud and swampiness around, but there was enough of a traffic flow in the area for him to have reason to worry.

It was _exhilarating_. He couldn't wait to start! ...Which made it all the worse that he was _late_.

"Dammit," he hissed, running as fast as he could. "Senpai's gonna _kill_ me."

He swerved into the correct room after going through what felt like a million tunnels, feeling a bit winded.

"S-sorry, Senpai," he panted, trying to catch his breath. "I overslept."

Senpai simply nodded, keen not to waste any more time, "Understood. However, know that this is not acceptable behavior. I will expect more from you in the future."

He took the reprimand with the seriousness it was meant. He couldn't fail, not with this.

The solemn air didn't stay for long, however, as the thrill he was feeling at what he was about to experience was practically palpable. Senpai cracked a smile, before leading him through a set of basic katas.

"I'm going to assume that you're already sufficiently warmed up," they said dryly. "So I'm only going to do this with you for now. As soon as we're done, we'll be heading out."

That was the magic word. He carefully went through the rest of his stances, making sure not to rush. That would only mean he'd have to repeat them, and that _definitely_ wasn't worth it.

"Alright," Senpai cut him off halfway through his final form, apparently just as eager as he was. "Let's get going. Do you remember what you're supposed to be doing?"

"Work on chakra control, evasion techniques, and stealth!" he recited, nearly bouncing up and down in his anticipation.

"Correct," they confirmed, sliding on their standard ROOT mask. He didn't like those very much. It was much harder to read what Senpai was thinking when they were wearing a porcelain face. "And what's the most important thing about this whole mission?"

"Don't disturb the other citizens, and don't draw attention to yourself," he answered, smart enough to know the unspoken part of those orders- basically, whatever he got done today would be fine, so long as he didn't get caught.

He thought Senpai might have smirked in response (it was hard to tell with the mask on), before turning to lead the way.

"Now, remember," they said, "I won't be staying with you for this. I'll be nearby in case anything goes wrong, but you're expected to find your way to the training ground and back. Understood?"

"Uh-huh," he said absently, too distracted to really be paying attention properly. He was going to go _outside!_

"Right," Senpai snorted, rolling their dark eyes. For once, they didn't have the sharingan on- probably trying to conserve energy, he mused to himself. Their ROOT mask shadowed their eyes strangely, but it didn't completely shield them. Selfishly, he was glad. Senpai had become much more emotive recently- he didn't want to lose that.

He perked up the second he noticed the faintest tendrils of natural light at the end of the corridor. Sweet, sweet freedom!

Senpai stopped him right before they reached the exit, and he had to suppress a whine at the action. What now?

They clasped his shoulder, looking at him seriously, "You need to be careful. If you mess this up, the consequences will be _severe_ , not only for you, but for me as well. You weren't scheduled to do any kind of field work for several more months, and it took a lot to convince Danzo-sama that this would be a beneficial experience for you. Don't make me regret it."

He sobered, quickly getting his emotions under control, "Yes, I understand. I won't let you down, Senpai."

"See that you don't."

With that, they turned and made a quick series of handsigns, flaring their chakra in the correct pattern to open the door. Slowly, _so_ slowly, the old thing smoothly sank into the concrete flooring to make way for their exit.

Senpai darted out as soon as the door was completely open, vanishing into the trees with expert ease.

He wasn't so controlled, stumbling out into the afternoon sun. He stared up at the sun in complete awe, feeling its warm rays caress his face. He took a small, hesitant step, then another, and another. Soon he was running towards the treeline, barely resisting the urge to burst out laughing, such joy he was feeling.

He arrived at the training ground in what felt like mere seconds, skidding to a stop. His hood had been blown off in the rush, but he couldn't be bothered to readjust it quite yet. He flopped down on the wet grass, his giddiness making him feel a bit drunk.

"High on _life!_ " he muttered to himself, then burst into a fit of giggles. He had no idea where that phrase came from, but it sounded right.

After indulging himself in another moment of relaxation, he got back onto his feet, sighing heavily. Time to get to work.

/=\

He panted, pulling himself up. He'd been training for almost three hours now- the sun was starting to go down. He was sweaty, and tired, and drenched in swamp water, but it was all worth it. He was _outside_ , he'd gotten to see the _sun!_ Anything would be worth that.

His training had been useful, too. He had gotten so used to the concrete, artificial environment of the training room at base that he'd been entirely unprepared for the varying terrain the outside world offered. But he thought he'd gotten the hang of it now.

It had been easy- suspiciously easy, really. It felt more like he was relearning things, remembering the way tall grass ticked at his thighs and the kind of firm footing he needed not to slip in the gooey swampland.

His chakra control had been improving as well. He'd managed to stay steady throughout the entire trip across the swamp, and it'd only gotten easier the more he did it. Swamp-walking, Senpai had told him, was an even better practice method than water-walking. It wasn't such a big deal if you fell into a pond or river, but no one wanted to faceplant into a swamp.

He groaned, pulling himself back onto the grassy bank. He would definitely need to take a shower or two. Or five.

He dragged his hand up lazily, bringing his chakra to the forefront. That familiar warm feeling rushed through him, like static electricity running up his arm. His fingertips began to glow a dull white, a modification of the chakra scalpel Senpai had taught him. They'd learned it from another operative, apparently, and had been more than happy to pass the knowledge on.

Absently, he began tracing his name into the dirt, carving thin lines behind it.

0...1...6...0...4...

(In the back of his mind, too faint for his tired brain to make out, something started screaming.)

"Hey, are you alright?"

He shot up, his heart hammering in his chest. Someone was approaching.

Hurriedly, he made sure his hood was in place, not a speck of his vivid white hair showing. It was too much of a tell, he had to keep it hidden if he wanted his identity to remain a secret. If someone had found him this mission was _already_ shot, so he couldn't afford to mess up anymore.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

"I'm just fine!" he stuttered, trying not to look directly at the person. The least things they could use to identify him with, the better.

"Hey, you don't have to be scared," the voice softened, and he risked a glance up. It was a teenager with the same coloring as Senpai, and heavy scars lining his face. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I'm training with my teammates nearby, and one of them is a medic. Are you hurt at all? This isn't exactly the best training ground for a little kid."

Indignation welled up inside him. He wasn't a _kid!_ He was a proud member of ROOT, and he was gonna be the best shinobi ever.

"I'm fine," he huffed, scowling at the ground. "I know what I'm doing. And besides, Kaa-san said that I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

The lie rolled off his tongue as easy as anything. His mother had died to save his life, before he was even old enough to remember what she looked like. But it was easy to imagine how she would have been if she were still alive (almost like he'd had a mother before, one he _did_ remember), so he knew exactly which role to play.

Petulant child powers, activate!

"Well, how about this," the Uchiha (he had to be, he looked just like Senpai) chuckled, holding out a fist. "I'll introduce myself. I'm Uchiha Obito, nice to meet you!"

Obito waited expectantly, and he eventually caved, fist-bumping the other with a huff.

"Nice to meet you too, I _guess_."

"Ouch," the man cringed, exaggeratedly clutching his chest. "That's cold. After I laid out my heart for you and everything."

He rolled his eyes at the other's antics, feeling very unimpressed. This guy must not have been very strong- this was not the kind of behavior a professional shinobi should be exhibiting. On the other hand... He snuck another glance, eyes tracing the thick scars accumulated on the shinobi's face. He was even wearing an eyepatch, which meant a lot to an Uchiha. He must have had some combat experience, at least.

That panic bubbled up again, however, when Obito turned and called out to his teammates, who were presumably nearby.

"Oi, Rin! Bakashi! I told you there was a kid over here!"

He fought to keep his expression under control, rapidly trying to think up an escape route.

 _Senpai, you said you'd be watching over me!_ He thought frantically. _Help me out, please!_

He heard an answering call of "Whatever, dead last!" and a light, feminine laugh. They sounded _really_ close.

Shit, he was running out of time. One person was bad enough, but a whole _squad_? He'd never leave his room again!

Just in time, his prayers were answered.

"Tsu-kun!" a voice called out, and a young woman emerged from behind a nearby tree. She raced over, scooping him up into a tight embrace. She had short brown hair, and a plain, forgettable face.

"Oh, I was so worried," she said, hugging him with a vice grip. He hugged back instinctively, recognizing the hidden chakra as his Senpai's. "Thank you for keeping my little brother safe, Shinobi-san. I was supposed to be watching him today, but he keeps slipping away! Really, I can never thank you enough."

"Oh, it's no problem at all," Obito blushed, scratching the back of his head in a nervous gesture. "This isn't exactly the best place for a kid to be hanging out, I was only doing my duty."

"Still, thank you," Senpai said smoothly, rising back onto their feet while still clutching him in their arms. "I really hate to cut this short, but we've got to run. Kaa-san will be expecting us."

"Yeah, of course!" he laughed, seeming a bit awkward. "Well, uh... Good luck?"

"Thanks again!" Senpai grinned, before carefully leaving at a civilian speed.

He cringed, curling up to bury his face in his knees. This was _definitely_ going to be on his report.

/=\

Obito frowned, staring after the two. Something about this was giving him a bad feeling.

"Done with your good deed for the day?" Kakashi drawled, coming up behind him and sticking his hands in his pockets in an attempt to look cool. Jokes on him though- Obito already knew he wasn't cool.

"I guess," he shrugged, still feeling a bit weird about the whole thing. "Hey, it's a bit strange for a kid to be running around in here, right? And by the look of him, he'd been roaming around for a while."

"Didn't his sister say that he likes to run off all the time?" Rin interjected, coming to stand next to the two. "Maybe he's just a curious kid. We get civilian children like that all the time at the hospital."

"I suppose," he said reluctantly. "It's just..."

"What is it?" Kakashi interrupted, single visible eye sharpening as he leaned forward. Obito almost smiled at that, excited as ever to see that his teammate had finally begun to trust his instincts. But his mind was consumed by something else.

"He wouldn't look at me," Obito burst out, frustration rising in spite of his momentary good mood. "I was only trying to help, and he wouldn't even _look_ at me-" he cut himself off, cursing his break in composure.

Almost without his control, his hand moved to trace the heavy scarring on his face.

"Oh, Obito," Rin said sadly, eyes filled with compassion. He couldn't bear to see it, so he turned to Kakashi instead. His other teammate's hands were clenched in helpless fury, and Obito was selfishly glad.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Just me being a dumbass, as usual," Obito dismissed, trying to lighten the mood. It was still bothering him, though. Not only the kid, but the sister too. Her expressions were too flat, her voice inundated with obviously false cheer. And her chakra felt just a bit too _refined_ to be a typical civilian's...

"You're not dumb," Kakashi said, though it seemed to be through gritted teeth, as if expressing positive emotion was a bit too much for him. Obito had no idea where he got that trait from. His dad was possibly the nicest person he'd ever met- the man put up with _Orochimaru_ on a regular basis, enough said, "You're the dead last, but you're not a dumbass."

"Of course not!" Rin chimed in, gently resting a hand on his arm. "You're an excellent shinobi Obito, but in cases like this I worry if that won't be your downfall!"

Obito lit up, laughing sheepishly. "Well, if you guys say so, it must be true!"

Maybe Rin was right. Perhaps he _was_ getting a bit too paranoid. Even if that kid's eyes seemed very familiar...

/=\

He prostrated himself, kneeling with his forehead on the cold, concrete floor. Danzo loomed over him, his disapproving expression pulling harshly at the scars decorating his face.

"You failed," he announced without any preamble, and the soldier couldn't resist cringing. "Do you know what the punishment is for failure?"

"Yes, Danzo-sama," he whispered, voice hoarse. He was still disgustingly dirty, and swamp water was dripping into his eyes. _That's_ why his eyes were watering, not because he was _crying_ or anything.

Right next to Danzo with their mask still on, Senpai stood at attention. He couldn't bear to look at them. His stupid mistake was going to get _both_ of them in trouble, just like Senpai warned him that it could.

At this pathetic showing, the elder seemed to soften.

"Two weeks," he said finally.

The soldier dared to look up, "Sir...?"

"Two weeks of solo training," Danzo clarified, his features still set with a disappointment that made him want to shy away. "No contact, not with me or Izumi. You will dine and train alone. I expect sufficient progress to result because of this, understand?"

"Yes," he said fervently. Even though this was indeed a punishment, at least he was being given a chance to improve himself. He wasn't been thrown away, he was still _useful_. "Danzo-sama, I swear that I won't fail you!"

"I know," Danzo said, allowing himself a smile. He reached down and rested a hand on his soldier's head. "I have faith in you. In your _potential_. That's why I've chosen, despite this mistake, to have you take your first mission next month."

The soldier looked up in shock, even as Senpai whipped their head around in alarm.

"Thank you Danzo-sama!" he accepted gratefully, fighting to keep his expression under control.

Senpai didn't seem nearly as happy, shifting in place slightly, "Sir, after that disaster today I really don't think that-"

"Is that your _professional_ opinion, Izumi?" Danzo interrupted, staring at the older operative steely. "Or your _personal_ one?"

Senpai fell silent, and he noticed them clenching their fists behind their back.

"You felt that he was ready for field work, even if it wasn't high stakes. He proved that he can play a role assigned to him, and you have reported that his combat skills are 'prodigious'. I'm simply giving him a chance to prove you right."

"I will, Senpai!" he exclaimed, beaming up at his superior. "I'll make you proud."

Senpai didn't answer, stiffly bowing to Danzo before fleeing. He looked up, curiously.

Danzo sighed, ruffling his hair, "Izumi is too emotional. It's a trait all Uchiha share, I'm afraid."

"I understand, Danzo-sama," he replied, eager to make up for his misstep. Danzo smirked down at him, gripping his hair tighter, to the point where it was _just_ that side of painful.

"I know you do, 01604."


	3. Purple Hyacinth

["Purple Hyacinth"- _I Am Sorry; Please Forgive Me_ ]

* * *

He examined the porcelain mask in his hands, tracing the stark yellow lines. He wasn't sure what kind of animal it was supposed to be- a dog, maybe? They all kind of looked the same. Regardless... it was a bit unnerving. He didn't like the masks, especially when they were coupled with the drab cloak and standard shinobi outfit all ROOT agents wore, but it was unfortunately part of the package.

He took a deep breath, before settling the mask into place, carefully tying it. He used just a tiny bit of chakra to make it stick and insure it wouldn't fall off.

 _Like spirit gum_ , he thought amusedly, before the information immediately drifted away.

The dreams... the memories, had been getting stronger. But the more he tried to bring them back, the more his brain rebelled. Honestly, he wasn't sure that he wanted to remember. All it did was bring him pain and make him lose his concentration. They were completely useless.

He shook his head, dislodging the thought before it could become too complicated. He didn't have time for something like that. Strapping his tanto in place, he slid smoothly out of his quarters.

Tsuda Shin'emon was going to die tonight. He had his orders.

He winced, pausing to clutch his head for a moment. The screaming was getting louder. It seemed to be reaching a fever-point, and it was anyone's guess on who would break first. He brushed it off, continuing on his journey.

Senpai didn't come to see him off.

/=\

He crept along the dark hallway, not making a single sound. He had some very specific requirements for this mission- while he couldn't be discovered on the way _in_ , he was supposed to make as big a scene as possible on the way _out_.

See, this mission couldn't implicate Konoha in anyway. Tsuda was a fairly famous pottery maker, and though he wasn't very well loved, there were still people who might raise a fuss if he was killed in suspicious circumstances. Luckily, ROOT, and him by extension, knew something about Tsuda that wasn't available to the general public- the reason he was so fanatical about the handling of his vases, was because he used them as a way to disguise his drug trafficking.

And that sort of thing just couldn't be allowed, could it? So he needed to die in a way that didn't look like a professional assassination, but the assassin in question couldn't be _caught_ , either.

So, to keep it short, this death was supposed to look messy. He could do messy.

/=\

He clucked his tongue disapprovingly, bringing his tanto up for a closer inspection. He'd underestimated just how much blood a human body could hold- he'd never killed a _real_ person before.

It had been... different, than he expected. There'd been more _screaming_. He'd had to wake the guy up towards the end of it, make sure he knew that he was staring death in the face. Or, well, the _mask_. That had been one of the requirements as well, requested by Danzo-sama himself, but- he almost hadn't done it. He'd almost left the guy asleep, just gotten it _over_ with, but he forced himself to go through with it. He would not disobey Danzo-sama. He couldn't bear to disappoint him again.

But when it came to the kill, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel. The voice was crying, sobbing in the back of his mind, and he didn't understand why. It had _never_ done that before, not when he'd been hunting and skinning rabbits, not when he had witnessed his first interrogation, not _ever_. It had only screamed, until now.

He was just doing his duty. This was what he had been born to do, what was owed of him. So, why... Why was his stomach clenching, acid burning the back of his throat? Why was he _crying_?

/=\

For once, he decided to take advantage of a loophole in his instructions, and didn't go straight back to headquarters. He snuck through a crack in the North Wall, making sure not to draw the eye of any of the sentries.

There was some kind of festival going on- he didn't know what it was for. But there were lanterns lighting up the village paths and banners strung up everywhere, vendors calling out exuberantly to the people milling about. It was easy to blend in with the laughing crowds, tucking his mask away and readjusting his cloak so that it seemed just a little less intimidating. There wasn't much he could do for the rest of his outfit, but he wasn't planning on staying long.

Just until his vision stopped being so blurry. Then he would go back.

He wandered for awhile, never lingering for long lest someone take undue notice of him, but it was still... _fun_. Fun, like learning a new technique with Senpai, or seeing the wind make his cloak billow out behind him in a way that made him light up with childish glee. Even the voice had faded away, quieting down to soft murmurs instead of the migraine-inducing screeches of before.

It was all fairly pleasant, which was why it could never last. The second he paused by the ramen stand, he'd sealed his own fate.

He hadn't meant to stare, honestly. _Sure_ , it smelled amazing, enough so that he could smell it from several blocks away, but he wasn't even _hungry_. And _maybe_ the stand looked nice and cozy, inviting in the same way as a distant relatives house during holiday season, but that didn't mean that he wanted to go _in_.

Apparently, not everyone thought that way, because before he could turn and continue on his journey, a hand came down on his shoulder.

"Heya, kid!" a woman said brightly, her long red hair spilling onto his shoulder as she leaned down to speak with him. "What're you waiting around for? Too scared to go in by yourself?"

"What, no!" he protested immediately, completely forgetting his resolve to stay unnoticed. "I'm not _scared_!"

She only laughed at his indignant expression. Surprisingly, he didn't feel like he was being made fun of- no, it seemed more like she was happy instead of mocking. It was a strange sensation.

"Y'know, it's okay if you are!" she assured him, and again, it didn't feel like he was being patronized. "I wasn't always so confident as a kid. But I grew, and I learned. So don't worry too much, kid."

"I wasn't," he grumbled, resolutely telling himself that he was not pouting.

"I could see it all over your face!" she retorted, still grinning widely. "Even with that weird hood up, that anxious expression was as clear as day!"

He sniffed haughtily, "If you say so, Miss."

"Oh, right!" she finally took her hand off his shoulder to brush some of her vividly crimson hair behind her ear. "I'm Uzumaki Kushina. Jōnin of Konohagakure, at your service."

"Nice to meet you," he offered, bowing slightly. He didn't say his own name in exchange. Something whispering in the back of his mind grew panicked at the thought, so he just kept quiet. Luckily, Kushina didn't seem bothered.

"You too! Now, are we gonna get some ramen or what?"

He blanched, trying to backtrack, "O-oh, no thank you Uzumaki-san. My parents are probably wondering where I am."

"Ah, alright," she said, seeming a little disappointed. He had no idea why. They had just met. "Be careful, alright? Stay in school, eat all your vegetables, and listen to your family! Unless they say stupid things, then don't listen. Actually, I'm just gonna trust your judgement on that, so make your own calls. Good luck!"

And with that, she flounced off, heading for the ramen stand with a single-minded intensity that almost had her bowling over two street vendors, an old man with a cart of watermelons, two little boys, and a random pig.

He blinked confusedly, watching her go. Truly, a strange woman.

/=\

Orochimaru watched in mild exasperation as Sakumo attempted to grab the goldfish with the flimsy paper scooper. This was his ninth attempt, and he appeared to be doing it more out of a sense of duty at this point.

 _I married this man_ , he thought resignedly, and breathed out what might have been a soft laugh.

He guessed it would only take two more times before the white-haired Jōnin gave up and just pulled the fish out with his bare hands.

Sakumo had just began to make the kind of frustrated noise that often preludes bad decisions (it hasn't taken Orochimaru long to notice that Kakashi shared that same trait) when Kushina barreled up to them, just as energetic as ever.

"Hey, Orochimaru-san, Sakumo. You guys having fun?" she chirped, face flushed with excitement and perhaps a bit of inebriation.

"Hi, Kushina-chan!" Sakumo seemed to take it as a sign, abandoning the game to join the two of them. "Yeah, we're having a great time. Minato on security?"

"Heh, that pretty boy couldn't say no when Hokage-sama asked him. Maybe that'll teach him to stand up for himself a bit more," she smirked, though still seeming unspeakably fond when mentioning her boyfriend.

"Fair enough!" Sakumo laughed, and Orochimaru tried very hard to concentrate on the conversation instead of the way his husband seemed to light up with his whole body when he was happy. "Meet anybody fun?"

"Yeah, I did!" Kushina nodded, smiling easily. "I had a good talk with a little boy outside of Teuchi's. Short, but good. The talk, I mean, not the kid. Though he was short too, now that I think about it."

"That's nice," Sakumo said, the laughter lines on his face becoming more pronounced with his smile.

Orochimaru shook himself out of such thoughts, however, when Kushina turned to look at him with surprising scrutiny.

"But there was something kind of weird about him..." she trailed off, tugging on a lock of hair contemplatively.

"Weird how?" Sakumo asked, tilting his head in that way that Orochimaru really shouldn't have found so endearing.

"Oh!" Kushina snapped her fingers, expression brightening in remembrance. "I see it now!"

"Hm?" Orochimaru raised a brow, reluctant to admit that he had no idea where she was trying to go with this.

"Your eyes," she explained, staring at him with all the intensity a sealing master was known for. "He had the same eyes as you. Golden, kinda narrowed? Yeah, they're real similar now that I have the comparison!"

Strange, he noted to himself, but not impossible. With the amount of bloodlines and family intersection in Konoha alone, a lot of features that might have been viewed as unusual were much more commonplace. Golden eyes weren't quite the novelty one might expect.

"What's this?" Sakumo teased, and Orochimaru barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes, already knowing what he was going to say. "Have you been holding out on me, beautiful? Got another kid hidden away somewhere?"

"Hardly," he said dryly, though his amusement was betrayed by the way he allowed Sakumo to sling an arm around his waist.

"Ha!" Kushina threw her head back in laughter, her long hair following the movement. "Well, I suppose stranger things have happened!"

/=\

After making his escape from that weird situation, he decided it was about time to leave. Heading for the ROOT base lying underneath Hokage mountain, the weariness in his bones meant he was _more_ than ready for this day to be over.

So, he thought he could be excused a small groan when he went through the stone entrance to find Senpai standing there. Nevertheless, he bowed respectfully and made his report.

Senpai didn't seem impressed. As they began to walk towards his quarters, he looked up at then hesitatingly.

"Senpai...? Is everything okay? I did my best on the mission, and I didn't mean to get back so late, honest-"

"It's not that," Senpai snapped, before taking a deep breath and calming themself. When he made an entreating noise, they elaborated fiercely. "It's just... do you even know what you're _doing_?"

"Of course I do, I'm a proud member of ROOT!" he argued, and it was immediately apparent that was the wrong thing to say.

" _You don't even have a name!_ " Senpai burst out, clenching their fists in anger.

His eyes began to burn.

"Yes, I _do!_ " he shouted back, for the first time in his life. But he didn't even have a chance to celebrate it before Senpai was on him again.

"No. _You do not_ ," they hissed. "You have a _number_. A fucking serial code. Y-you're not even _real_ , as you are now. Just another puppet, the same brainless lackeys this village always breeds."

He was left standing there, stunned, as Senpai stormed away.

"...Danzo-sama?" the soldier whispered, having become aware of the elder's presence behind him a few moments ago. "Is that true?"

Danzo looked down at him, something almost like pity on his face.

"With your mother dead, and you an unnamed babe, I did the best that I could. I'm sorry if you feel that wasn't enough."

"No, no!" he rushed to say, shaking his head in denial. "You have done so much for me, Danzo-sama. _Too_ much, if I'm to be honest. I'll never be able to repay what you've given me."

"I know," the man said, all traces of empathy smoothed out of his expression. "But you can start by giving your best effort to keeping this village safe. You did a good job on your mission, today. I'll be expecting more of you, from this point forwards."

"Yes, sir," he spoke, feeling pride well up inside him at the praise.

Danzo turned, heading deeper into the base, "You'll be joining some of the other operatives tomorrow. If all goes well, you might even have a chance to meet your permanent partner. I hope you'll look toward to it."

"I will!" the soldier vowed, and it seemed like every shitty thing that had happened that day was worth it to get to _this_ moment.

(For the first time, the voice was silent. He didn't notice its absence.)


	4. Narcissus

["Narcissus"- Stay as Sweet as You Are]

* * *

The next morning he woke early, eager to get a move on. He'd been told another junior agent would be by to pick him up, so he decided to get ready before they arrived. He packed away his clothes into a small bag, gingerly tucking his mask away. It was made of sturdy stuff, but that was no reason not to be careful.

He may not have been too fond of the mask, or how it felt when he wore it, but it was a symbol of his loyalty. It showed that he was a member of ROOT, that he was dedicated to protecting this village. How could he do anything different?

He'd just managed to stuff his cloak in the bag, huffing angrily when it refused to fit, and it was good timing. He heard a knock on the door, and he bit his lip in nervousness.

"Come in!" he called out, fumbling slightly as he tried to figure out what to do with his hands. He settled with folding them behind his back, and watched as the agent came in.

"Hello?" the agent poked his head inside the room, smiling when he met the soldier's eyes. "You must be the new kid. I'm Shin, nice to meet you."

He gave a confused smile back, a little unsure. This was not the way that Senpai had introduced themself to him. Perhaps it was a test? Best to just go along with it for now.

"Pleasure, Shin-senpai. I look forward to working with you, so please take care of me," he bowed, ducking low. When he looked back up, Shin was watching him with a bit of bemusement.

"Sure thing," the other male said slowly. "What's your name, might I ask? I wasn't informed of that before I got here."

"01604," he answered brightly, resolutely ignoring the memory of Senpai screaming at him over this.

It didn't seem to bother Shin at all, thankfully, as he merely nodded, "Right. Do you want me to call you that? And what pronouns do you use?"

"He/him, please," he answered, and then hesitated. "As for the other thing... I don't really care. Anything is fine."

Shin studied him for a moment, before tapping his chin in thought, "Does Six sound good?"

He shrugged. It didn't really matter to him.

"Well, alright," Shin sighed, scratching the back of his head. "We'll just call you that until you pick your own name, okay?"

"But... I already _have_ a name. What's wrong with that one?" he asked, confused and slightly fearful that Shin would flip out on him like Senpai did.

"Nothing! That's okay," the older operative replied. "But if you ever change your mind, just let me know. I'll make sure everyone calls you by the right name."

"...Sure thing," he said slowly, using the same tone of voice that one might use with rabid animals. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah, you're right," Shin nodded. "Let's go! The others are excited to meet you at last. Izumi talks about you a lot. Oh, and I use he/him pronouns as well, by the way."

The soldier grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, disguising his smile within the action. After what happened yesterday, it was nice to know that Senpai at least cared enough to discuss his progress with the other agents.

/=\

"This is where you'll be staying," Shin explained, sliding the door open.

He peeked inside, curiosity welling up. It seemed nice enough. One small side table, a bed, a dresser and a bathroom. It seemed that he would have to share the bathroom with his roommate, but he didn't mind that. He wasn't a messy person, and judging by the neat appearance of the other side of the room, neither was his new roommate.

"I know your partner, he's a good guy. Serious, but ultimately a good person. I think you two will get along," Shin predicted, smiling down at him in comfort.

"I sure _hope_ so," he muttered to himself.

"Now, come on!" Shin patted his shoulder, leading him farther into base after letting him drop off his bag. "I want to introduce you to the others. Yakumo and Tonbo are off on assignment, and my partner Sai is doing his T&I training today, but all the others are here."

"Ah, okay," he answered lowly. For some reason, he was feeling a bit... shy. Hopefully, this would go well.

Shin led him into the communal area, keeping a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey all of you! New kid's here!"

He shifted uncomfortably as all the people in the room turned to look at him. Though many were wearing their uniforms, none of them were wearing masks, thank god.

"OH MY GOSH! You're so _cute!_ "

His vision was engulfed in long, spiky dark hair and thin arms were suddenly choking the life out of him.

" _Yota_!" One of the other's, a male that had short brown hair with a golden fringe, jumped to his feet, shouting out with exasperation. "Get off of that poor child, they look like they're about to keel over!"

"Yūto," Yota groaned. "You're such a buzzkill."

Nevertheless, he let go and went back to the couch, pouting the whole time.

"Sorry about him," a dark-haired male wearing darkened goggles said with slight humor. "He means well. I'm Torune. My partner is that brooding carrot-top over there."

"Fū," Mr. Broody introduced himself without looking up from sharpening his kunai, looking just as angst-ridden as the nickname would imply.

"I'm Tsuchinoto," the last male in the room said, staring at the whole spectacle in complete and utter boredom. "Call me Tsuchi."

His expression cleared for a small moment, however, when it landed on the small redhead drawing arcane symbols onto a scroll next to him.

"This is my partner, Honoka. She doesn't talk much."

Honoka looked up to catch his eye, giving a small wave.

He waved back, barely resisting a grin. They seemed nice.

"So, after that _wonderful_ entrance," Shin rolled his eyes. "This is Six. He/him pronouns, and be _nice_ , okay?"

"Can't guarantee anything," Yota sung, waggling his eyebrows teasingly.

"Well, that's reassuring," he said before he could stop himself, sarcasm spilling out of his mouth in a way that seemed almost familiar.

To his surprise, Fū barked out a laugh, saying, "Maybe you're not so bad after all, kiddo. Welcome aboard the crazy train, at any rate."

"Joy," he drawled. "This is just getting better and better."

/=\

Fū became much more open after that- they all did, really. Torune was a member of the Aburame clan, and had even let the soldier hold one of his poisonous insects.

 _They would have to get familiar with your chakra,_ Torune had explained, _and then there would be no risk._ He would be able to tell where the kid was at all times, and if he was in trouble, which he found only mildly disturbing. Fū had apparently been on his side for that, eyeing his partner warily when he began to wax poetic about the benefits of having wasp colonies living underneath your skin.

Yeah, _really_ not his thing.

Yūto and Yota had thankfully not been discussing the positive nature of insects burrowing under your skin, and he'd only had to escape from Yota's clingy embrace once during the entire conversation. Apparently, that was a bit of a record.

"He's trying to go easy on you, since you're new and all," Yūto warned, too serious for it to be a joke, or a way to heckle this newbie. "But consider this your one vacation period. This time next week, he'll be latching onto you so often, you won't be able to go two feet without him attempting to suffocate you."

"Hey!" Yota whined, an actual mini storm cloud forming over his head. Yeah, apparently _that_ was also normal.

He was learning a lot of things today.

Like, for instance, certain character traits that his new teammates tried to conceal. It'd been easy to tell, not two minutes into conversation, that Tsuchi was a genius. A real, genuine whiz-kid (well, technically a whiz- _teen_ ), even if he was extremely self-deprecating. If he ever made any kind of halfway intelligent comment, he backtracked so hard that he began tripping over his words, stuttering and giving a nervous laugh. When it got really bad and he couldn't even bring himself to finish a sentence, he fell silent, an unbelievably frustrated expression on his face. The one time he witnessed that happening, all it had taken to snap Tsuchi out of it was for Honoka to poke his cheek, staring at him with an even expression.

Then, he would simply shake his head and get back on track. It was a bit strange, to be honest. Intelligence was something to be used, a tool. Why would anyone be ashamed of their mind?

Nevertheless, even though the soldier hadn't seen Honoka talk even once in the hours he'd been socializing with them all, he really liked her. Both of them, really. They weren't as exuberant or aggressive as some of the others, and just being around Honoka was calming. She didn't speak, but it was somehow easy to tell what she was saying.

And Shin was wonderful, of course. He found himself infinitely grateful that _he_ had been the one to introduce the soldier to what would be his new way of life. If one of the others had come to meet him at that door, he might have stabbed them simply on principle.

Later that day, when he was finally forced to return to his room, weighed down by exhaustion, he didn't feel so nervous anymore.

/=\

He awoke with a start, one hand on his tanto before he'd even opened his eyes. Someone else was in the room. His sword slid out of its sheath with a soft click, unnoticeable beneath the sound of rustling the other person was making. He tensed his body, preparing to strike.

"Hey," a husky voice whispered through the darkness of the room. "You awake? I'm your roommate, Kinoto."

He relaxed just slightly, but didn't release his grip on the sword. He knew better than to do that, after all the sneak-attacks Senpai surprised him with in the name of 'training'. Sitting up, he faced the other agent.

He had dark hair that stuck up in a way not dissimilar to the soldier's own, and typical coloring. Tan skin, dark eyes. Kinoto could have easily blended in with any type of crowd- in the Land of Fire, at least. It became more difficult the farther out a person went.

"I guess we're supposed to be partners," Kinoto said, seeming rather put out at the knowledge. The soldier had to stop himself from bristling. What did he care what some random guy thought? He was just here to do his job. Nothing else mattered.

"So it seems," he replied in a professionally neutral tone of voice, valiantly keeping all his snarky comments inside his head for once.

"You're young," Kinoto noted, eyebrows drawing down in disapproval.

 _And you obviously smoke, with a raspy voice like that,_ he thought petulantly, but on the outside he merely said, "I'm seven years old, Kinoto-senpai. I'm a trained field agent, don't worry. I'll do my best to stay out of your way and provide assistance when needed."

"Wait, no," Kinoto groaned, scrubbing his face tiredly. The soldier felt a pang of guilt, though he wasn't sure what for. " _Fuck_ , why I am so bad at this... I wasn't trying to knock on you or anything. It was just an observation, because I have trouble connecting my brain to my mouth, apparently. Let's try this again. I'm Kinoto- you can just call me that, no senpai needed- and I like the color green. My plan for the future is to continue helping Konoha to the best of my capacity. You?"

He stood from the bed, leaving his tanto beneath the pillow, and bowed politely. Even if he didn't wish to be called 'senpai', he was still technically a senior officer.

"01604. I... like the color blue. Like the sky. My plan for the future is to serve Danzo-sama as a proud member of ROOT."

"Cool, cool," he nodded, awkwardly sticking his hands in his pockets. "My registration number is 01730, now that you mentioned it. But, uh, what's your name? You never said."

He bit back a sharp reply, masking his irritation. "Yes I did. I'm 01604. The others have decided to call me Six, if that's easier."

"That's dumb," Kinoto declared bluntly, that same look of disapproval resurfacing. "You should pick a better name. Something not so long and boring."

He blinked, taken aback. No one had _ever_ said anything like that to him before.

"And just _how_ do you expect me to do that?" he bit out, finally allowing his sarcasm to strike, sharp and pointed like the fangs of a deadly viper.

"Well, how about this," Kinoto suggested, giving him a half-smile that made him lose his building anger out of sheer astonishment. It was a nice smile. Soft, and warm. "I'll help you find a name. And it'll be something cool, something with power behind it. Sound good?"

"Sounds... _great_ ," the soldier answered, biting back an uncontrollable grin of his own.

A new name... Senpai had told him that he didn't have one, and Shin had essentially said that he didn't need it. And he didn't. He was secure in his identity, his place in this world. A name was a mere afterthought, to all of the other things he had to deal with. But being told that he could pick his own name, get assistance for it? That was what made him actually want it.

He'd have to choose carefully. After all, a name was a prediction of that person's fate. And a little good luck could never hurt in their line of business.


	5. General Chrysanthemum

["General Chrysanthemum"- _You're a Wonderful Friend; Cheerfulness and Rest_ ]

* * *

"Rai-" Kinoto hissed, elbowing him in the side. "Will you pay attention? This is _important_!"

Raiden rolled his eyes with a huff, but grudgingly returned his attention to the senior agent giving an extremely boring rant. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, already losing interest.

"And as such, during this new quarter we will be focusing much more on-"

His gaze wandered around the room, the speech turning into nothing more than white noise. Raiden guiltily snuck a look at his partner, who was back to watching with that usual serious expression of his. He wondered if Kinoto would notice if he sneaked away... He had so many more important things to be doing with his time. _Training_ , for example. He was _so_ close to figuring out the raigeki; it had only fizzled out after he'd started running last time, which was a huge improvement. Soon enough, he might even be able to make it avoid obstacles and strike at targets just like Shin could.

He was dragged out of his daydreaming when Kinoto viciously pinched his shoulder, and Raiden yelped in pain, able to feel it even through his mesh shirt.

"What the hell, Kin?" he cursed, eyes actually watering. Kinoto had definitely used a bit of chakra in that pinch- he could feel it burning slightly. Damn it. Kinoto had a fire nature, and he was always happy to use it to his advantage, even against his poor, helpless, partner. "That hurt. You're so _mean_ to me."

At that, he scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Oh, please. If you think this is mean, you haven't seen anything yet."

"Now, now, ladies, no need to fight. I think you're _both_ beautiful." An arm was slung over Raiden's shoulder and another over Kinoto's, bringing them into a weird facsimile of a group hug.

This time, it was Raiden who rolled his eyes.

"Tonbo, you're _blind_ ," he said dryly, shrugging off the offending limb.

The older operative pouted, but let him go without a struggle. " _Maa_ , I liked you better when you were all cute and nervous. Now you're just a mouthy brat. What kind of a transformation is that? And in only two years!"

Raiden turned away, but he had a bit of difficulty suppressing his smile. Tonbo was... fun. When he was being nice, anyway.

Since he spent most of his time undercover, working in the T&I department, there was some days when he would come back to base and _not_ be acting very nice. He was pretty similar to his partner in that way. Yakumo was a kind and gentle person, right up until the moment that she wasn't.

The thought actually reminded him- he hadn't seen her around much recently.

"Hey, Tonbo," Kinoto said slowly, brow furrowed. Evidently, the same thing had occurred to him. "Has Yakumo been sent on another mission already? I thought she was supposed to wait until her arm healed!"

Tonbo scowled, the look made even more intimidating by the bandages that covered most of his upper face. "Not here."

The other two nodded, understanding the need for security. They turned their attention back to the same speech droning on, the speaker continuing even though all the operatives had pretty much given up on listening.

Raiden eyed Tonbo's tight expression. There were lines of stress beginning to form, and that was something _big_ for a person who spent all of their time lying to the village's head of Interrogation.

There was something about this that he didn't like.

/=\

When they finally managed to escape, Tonbo pulled them into a side corridor, allowing the rest of the agents to march past unheeded.

"So, what's going on?" Kinoto said briskly, as business-driven as ever.

"I don't know," Tonbo admitted. Raiden could tell that the confession pained him, especially since it concerned his partner, and so hastened to figure out the rest of the situation.

"In what way?" he questioned, leaning in with anticipation. "If it's about Yakumo's reassignment, then-"

"Not so _loud_ ," Tonbo hissed, "Do you want us to get caught by one of the commanders? You know how much they hate our division for getting ' _special treatment_ '."

 _Yes_ , he did. It'd been so jarring, at first, to have a senior officer treat him with clear contempt, especially since he hadn't had any idea of _why_.

Kinoto had explained it to him, weariness clear in his voice. Apparently, the difference was that everyone in their division had been _born_ into ROOT. They were treated as higher priority, and as having better potential. While Raiden privately saw the logic in that- _he_ had been trained since before he could walk, and was fervently devoted to ROOT's cause in a way no latecomer could be, he didn't say it out loud. Because Kinoto was one of those 'latecomers', and had been transferred to their division several years ago for reasons not even he knew.

"Well now, what's happening in here? No _shenanigans_ , I hope?"

Raiden nearly jumped out of his skin, cursing violently. When he turned, pulling out his tanto in a flash, he merely groaned and put it away once he saw who it was. "What the _fuck_ , Sai? You scared the shit out of me."

The younger boy gave his usual bland smile. "My apologies, Rai-senpai. I was simply attempting to take a 'conciliatory' tone. Shin said that it would make people more receptive towards me."

"Gotta be honest with you, kid," Kinoto said wryly, looking halfway between amused and exhausted, "if you were going for 'conciliatory', implying that we were having a threesome in the corridor is not the way to do it."

"Ew, what the _fuck_?" Tonbo leapt back, pretending to gag. "None of you guys are over thirteen! Hell, little Rai here is only _nine_! And for that matter, you're fucking six, Sai! How the hell do you even _know_ about that stuff?"

Sai blinked, seemingly entirely unaffected. "Shin has recently started his honeytrap training. He thought it prudent to tell me what he learned."

"Why?" Raiden questioned, wrinkling his nose. "You're not in the infiltration track. There's no way you could be, with those looks. Of course, the _personality_ doesn't help much either."

He gave a weak gesture, almost like a shrug. Raiden was pretty proud of it, actually. Sai had come a long way. "Regardless, I may need that information for an assassination. It couldn't hurt, at the very least. And besides, Shin said that it was better I learn it from him than out in the field."

Raiden nodded, conceding the point. Kinoto had attempted to do the same thing during their first year of partnership- luckily, Senpai had already had the idea, so Raiden was able to cut that awkwardness off _real_ quick.

Kinoto must have been thinking of the same thing, because he grimaced painfully for a split second.

"Still, feels... icky," Tonbo said, shrugging. It was pretty amazing how expressive he was, since most of his face was covered up. He always made sure people knew what he was thinking, that's for sure.

"If you say so," Raiden replied. He didn't really see what the big deal was, and neither did Sai by the 'Slightly Confused but I'm Going to Just Shut Up Now' motif he was working for.

Kinoto seemed to get it, but he didn't say anything. Maybe in this situation, there was nothing to say.

"Anyways, I _do_ have to get going soon," Raiden declared, turning towards Tonbo purposefully. "I'm close to getting a new technique Shin showed me. So what exactly is going on with Yakumo?"

Even Sai looked curious, and Tonbo bit his lip.

"Well, you know she wasn't supposed to be on duty for another three months. She broke her arm in _six places_ for fuck's sake! But she left in the middle of last week, and in a real hurry. She only had time to write me a note, didn't even wake me up before she went! So I went to ask Commander Koumori, and she said that Danzo had specifically asked her to be sent on this mission. And that it might last for _several years_."

The casual use of Danzo-sama's name made him flinch in secondhand embarrassment, but Raiden shoved it away a moment later. This was more important.

"Where is the mission?" Kinoto demanded, fists clenching almost without his control.

At that, Tonbo's expression got even darker, if it was possible. "The Cryptology Team. You know, one of the only places in the village that's almost _always_ overrun with fucking Nara's?"

Raiden sharply sucked in a breath. Yakumo was not an undercover specialist. She was wonderful, and he loved her dearly, but her mental state was not suited for those types of missions. She got nervous when questioned, and snapped easily. In a situation like that, things could turn dangerous _real_ fast.

"Why?" Sai questioned, trying to reason it out in his head. "Yakumo-san is unlikely to respond well in situations of stress. Is it not counterintuitive to purposely put her in an area where that is likely to occur?"

They stood in grim silence, all their fears given voice.

"I don't know," Tonbo said flatly, but there was something in the tightness of his jaw that made Raiden feel suspicious. He must have sensed that, because he turned to face the younger operative directly. It was rather unnerving, having those starch white bandages staring at him in the dim lighting of the corridor. " _I don't know._ "

Raiden knew what he was really saying. So he stayed quiet, and didn't ask.

/=\

On his way to the training ground inside the base, mind whirling with one unhappy thought after another, Raiden caught sight of something truly unexpected.

" _Senpai_?" he blurted out, barely able to believe his eyes. Two years since he had last seen them, two years and not sure of his welcome. Their last parting wasn't exactly on what one might call _good terms_.

"Soldier," they acknowledged him, bowing their head in greeting.

 _Oh, right,_ Raiden thought. _They were never told about my name._

On official documents, he was still 01604. Raiden preferred it that way. Selfishly, he wanted his name to be something only _he_ had control over.

But still, something about this whole experience made him feel a bit numb. They watched each other mutely, and at a loss of what else to do, Raiden sat a respectable distance away from Senpai on the couch. When still, nothing happened, he decided to take the plunge.

"Hey, Senpai?"

They hummed contemplatively, ensuring he knew they were listening.

Still, he hesitated. "I... chose a new name. Would you like to hear it?"

Senpai turned to him, blinking in surprise. "Of course. What did you choose?"

"Raiden," he grinned, remembering the many, _many_ options Kinoto had given him before coming to the perfect conclusion. "It took a while to find one that felt right. But, I _really_ like it."

He didn't ask their opinion on it. He was too afraid. It'd been two years since the last time he'd spoken to Senpai- was he supposed to just pretend nothing had happened?

Fidgeting in silence as Senpai merely started to polish the metal plate on their forehead band, he got up, coughing awkwardly.

"Well, I should get going. Uh, training. Y'know," he paused for a moment, before determinedly surging on. "You should stop by the common room more often. I know you don't come down to our side of the base too much, but I would like to see you. You're my friend."

My first friend. For a long time, my _only_ friend. But he kept those thoughts inside his head.

When there was still no response, he sighed, turning to leave.

"It suits you."

Raiden cocked his head, confused at the nonsequitur. "What?"

Senpai still didn't look up, though it seemed like it was more out of embarrassment at this point. "Nothing. Good luck with your training, Raiden."

He beamed. "Thanks Senpai! I'll do my best to make you proud!"

He scampered off, giddiness rising up and making him eager to get back to work. In doing so, he just missed seeing a glimpse of the small smile on Uchiha Izumi's face as they watched him leave.

* * *

 **Notes** : I'll be doing these little updates every five chapters, so check here if you want to know what's going on behind the scenes! First, I want to thank everyone for their wonderful review- I really appreciate it. It really brightens my day and makes me want to work even harder! Things are beginning to speed up now, as their was a time-skip this chapter, and there will be another one in the next. More well-known characters will be showing up soon too, so I'm super excited for that!

If you have any questions, always feel free to ask! It's not a bother at all, seriously. I love to rant about my stories. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!


	6. Maidenhair Fern

["Maidenhair Fern"- _Secret Bond of Love_ ]

* * *

Raiden let out a painful breath, pulling off his mask with a groan. "Shit, I think that last punch got me straight in the kidney."

"You think you've got it tough?" Kinoto wheezed, practically bent in half as he tried to catch his breath.

And, well- he could concede that point. Bandit removal was really only a rudimentary task, there was usually no trouble, or even any injuries if they played it right. But there had _definitely_ been some missing-nins in that last bunch, and one of them had managed to land a devastating kick right at Kinoto's diaphragm. Even with the extra padding his uniform provided, he was still thrown back, and likely in a great deal of pain.

So Raiden would cut him some slack. _Just_ this once.

He grabbed Kinoto's arm, slinging it over his shoulder in order to give him better support.

"C'mon champ, almost there. We'll be back in our quarters in five seconds, don't you worry."

"Ugh," he groaned, face contorted. "You better be right, you brat, because I think there's something wrong with my ribs."

"Oi!" Raiden protested, though he did speed up as much as he could. "I'm not a brat. I'm _twelve_! We've been partners for five years, won't you stop calling me that already?"

" _N-never,_ " Kinoto said vehemently, even as he fell victim to a series of hacking coughs.

"Geez," he sighed heavily, carefully opening the door to their quarters. He laid Kinoto gently down on his bed, before heading back out to find a medic. Still, he couldn't resist one last parting shot. "And the others say I'm the stubborn one."

"You _are_ ," Kinoto confirmed, brows furrowed in confusion.

Raiden was going to give himself a migraine with how much he was rolling his eyes. " _Sure thing_ , pal. If you say so."

He shut the door quietly behind him, cutting off his partner's reply. Raiden walked calmly through the long halls, trying to keep his pace steady. Looking panicked would just bring people's curiosity onto him, and the commanders suspicion. That was pretty much the last thing he wanted.

Luckily, he didn't have far to go. He paused in front of the door, as plain and gray as any other in the base, before raising his hand and knocking sharply.

"Hm, what is it? It's late!" Yota complained as he answered the door, rubbing his eyes groggily. He brightened considerably when he noticed who was waiting for him. "Oh, Rai-chan! What are you doing awake? Don't you know that it's time for all good little children to go to sleep?"

Even though he really wasn't in the mood, exhausted and bloody and worried for his partner, he couldn't resist a smile. Yota just seemed to have that effect on him.

"Just got back from a mission," he confided, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Oh," Yota tapped his chin in consideration. "Then you must be here for Yūto! Kinoto get injured?"

"Yeah. Doesn't seem too horrible, but I'd rather not take the risk," Raiden shrugged tiredly, already struggling to stay alert.

Yūto came to the door, looking much more awake than his partner. "Alright, let's go. One of you idiots is injured and I don't care which one."

Raiden was unbothered by the brisk attitude, though Yota began to whine about 'proper bedside manners'. He knew that was the cue to get going, before Yūto smacked him through a wall out of self-defense.

Leading him back to their room, Yūto took stock of the situation carefully, before going straight to work. Raiden couldn't help the admiration that bubbled up inside him at the sight. No one was quite sure whether it was some kind of kekkai-genkai, but Yūto was an extremely proficient healer. He worked undercover at the hospital, which certainly improved his skills, but he'd already been a prodigy even before then.

Almost everyone had some kind of undercover assignment except for him. Raiden barely went outside at all, and when he did he rarely got to enjoy it. While brooding on that, he made a split-second decision.

"Get the others," Raiden said decisively, getting to his feet. "We're going outside."

"Sure, sure," Yūto hummed, still fussing over Kinoto's injuries despite his protests. Hey, if he was well enough to complain, he was well enough to sit still for another few minutes. Then both of them paused. "Wait, what?"

/=\

They snuck past the patrols, using that side exit Senpai had shown him so long ago. They found a nice hill to rest on, settling underneath one of Konoha's many great trees. Even then, the starry sky was visible through the tree branches, an entire universe just beyond their reach.

"Hey... You guys ever wonder if there are other worlds out there? Other humans, other versions of us?" Somehow, this seemed very important to him. The reason why was itching at the back of his mind, but he dismissed it as pure curiosity.

"No, not really," Sai answered, blunt as ever. But he'd followed them out, Shin too, and they were sitting there with the others.

"Heh. Fair enough."

There was peaceful silence for a moment, but of course with their group no one could stand it for long.

"This sure is some _beautiful_ nothingness," Tonbo said blandly. "Why, it might even be the best nothingness I've ever _not_ seen."

"Shut the fuck up, Tonnie," Raiden retorted, even as he kept his eyes trained on the night sky. "You're blind, we get it. Whoop-de-fucking-do."

" _So_ uncute," Tonbo pouted, turning to Yakumo for comfort. She was no help of course, only giving him a conciliatory pat on the head before returning to her conversation with Senpai. Those two really seemed to be hitting it off.

He was glad. Yakumo looked to be more relaxed already, and Senpai was far less tense. They had both been so busy recently- they deserved it. Everyone was happier, Yūto and Yota arguing back and forth as usual, Fū and Torune quietly debating something- probably the merits of one of Torune's newest jutsus, based on the way his coat seemed to be buzzing mildly in excitement. Tsuchi was sleeping, of course, but Haruka was awake. She was sitting on Raiden's right side, and he turned to her appraisingly.

"Hey, do you know any of the constellations?"

She frowned mildly, a small sign of confusion, before shrugging.

"Well, that's okay," he declared. "We can make up our own. Wanna help me?"

She nodded vigorously, giving him a small smile. Raiden would do almost anything to earn that smile. It made her whole body shine, like light was streaming out from behind her face.

"Awesome! Well, that one kind of looks like a dolphin, so I was thinking we could call it-"

Beside him, Kinoto smiled and closed his eyes. Despite the possible consequences, this moment made it all worth it.

/=\

Kinoto cursed, dodging to the side to avoid the swing of Fū's tanto. Raiden, distracted by the sound of his partner's distress, took his eyes off of his opponent for a split second.

But a second was all a shinobi like Torune needed.

Then Raiden was the one cursing, squirming as a knee hit him right in the gut, and a kunai was placed against his throat.

"Yield."

He scowled. He would have still fought, would've never given up on the field, no matter how lousy the odds were, but here, in ROOT's training ground with Torune's rinkaichū buzzing around and just waiting for an excuse to poison him, he didn't really feel like going that far.

"I yield," he muttered grudgingly. Even if it didn't really matter, he still hated losing.

The thud of Kinoto's body hitting the mat, and his yelp of pain pretty much signified how he was doing.

"I yield," he groaned, and Fū got off of him with a smirk.

"Maybe next time," the orange-haired operative offered with a smirk.

"Yeah, maybe next time when I'm not _injured_ and have only been back for _one damn day_ ," Kinoto shot back, though his smile showed it was in good humor.

Raiden turned away, ignoring Torune's helping hand. He felt vaguely sick all of a sudden, watching them be all chummy.

He didn't get it. Everything had been fine not ten minutes ago, why was he freaking out now? And over what, exactly, was he getting so worked up about in the first place?

Shit. Emotions were harder than he remembered them being.

( _and that's the key word, isn't it? remember, remember, tell me, what do you remember_ )

He headed outside, to that same training ground he'd first gone too, hoping to do some solo practice and clear his head. Maybe if he trained himself into the ground, this jealousy would go away.

But of course, thanks to his amazing luck, he didn't even last more than an hour before Shin marched over, looking fit to inflict the wrath of god on him.

"What are you _doing_ out here?" Shin hissed, looking truly angry for the first time in all the years Raiden had known him. "The lunch rush is almost over, people will be coming to train here soon. You're not even wearing your cloak!"

"No one comes to this training ground!" Raiden argued, standing his ground in a fit of frustration. "What's it matter if I train here? My sensing has gotten decent enough for me to tell if there's someone coming-"

As if just to spite him, at that very moment two people flickered into view, not two feet away from the arguing ROOT members.

"Oh, sorry!" someone said brightly. "We didn't know this training ground was in use. Want us to go somewhere else?"

"No, no," Shin said nervously, unobtrusively attempting to hide Raiden from view. "No need to do that, we were just leaving."

"Nii-san, I'm cold! Did you have to dump me in the swamp so many times?" Raiden complained, making his voice as high-pitched and annoying as possible.

Shin winced, but took the opportunity to wrap his cloak around the younger shinobi, shielding any of his more _recognizable_ aspects from view.

"My bad," he said, chuckling in a way that was so obviously uncomfortable. "But in my defense, you deserved it."

On the other side of the training ground, a light laugh broke out. Raiden peeked out from Shin, both because it seemed like something an annoying younger brother would do, and because he really did want to see who it was.

To his surprise, it was actually someone he knew. He didn't say anything of course, kept his mouth shut and his expression blank, but it was a near thing. After all, he had never expected to see Uchiha Obito again. Hm, small world.

The younger man with him must have been a clansmen. He looked to be about Shin's age, with dark curly hair, and happy eyes.

"Man, you guys are like your own little comedy skit!" he laughed, looking delighted in the face of his relative's exasperation.

"Have some tact, will you?" Obito said tiredly, as if this was the millionth time that day he'd been forced to repeat it. Somehow, Raiden wouldn't doubt it.

"You can't make me!" he taunted, sticking out his tongue.

 _Geez_ , talk about a comedy skit.

"C'mon," Shin whispered. "Let's leave while they're distracted."

Raiden acquiesced without a fight, shame now overtaking him. To act so unprofessional... what was happening to him? What was changing about him so frighteningly? Whatever it was, he didn't like it.

When they got back onto base, he turned to his senior with a steady expression, ready for punishment. But even still...

"I really am sorry, Shin," he said mournfully. "I... was just kinda freaking out. I don't know _why_ , but I won't let it affect me again."

Shin sighed, staring at him seriously.

"Just... be careful, alright?" he stressed, and he seemed so weary in that moment. "You've gotten bold. Danzo has stopped keeping an eye on you the way he used to, because you're competent, loyal, and do your work. But Danzo isn't the only one watching, and _we can't afford to mess up_. Do you understand me?"

Raiden nodded mutely. He _didn't_ understand, not really. But despite serving ROOT for his entire life, there was a lot of things about it that he didn't understand.


	7. Iris

["Iris"- _Your Friendship Means So Much to Me_ ]

* * *

"I expect you both to be on your best behavior," Danzo said curtly, watching over the two operatives with a critical eye. "You will be representing ROOT, and your manner should reflect such. Understood?"

"Yes, Danzo-sama!" Raiden chanted alongside his partner.

Danzo nodded sharply, leading them out into the village. Kinoto leapt into the trees, trying to keep out of sight, and Raiden followed. They silently followed the elder, staying in the shadows even as Danzo strolled up to the Hokage Tower. There was an important meeting today, and Danzo was expected to make an appearance. And as such, Kinoto and Raiden had been chosen to go along as bodyguards.

He was practically vibrating with anticipation, and his partner seemed to realize that, slowing slightly to tug on his cloak.

"Don't do anything stupid, _Nezumi_ ," Kinoto advised, using Raiden's hated code name.

Seriously, Rat? That wasn't glamorous at _all_.

"I know, I know," he huffed, pulling his cloak out of the other's grip. "But can't you at least let me have this? We're gonna see the _Hokage_!"

Childish glee welled up at the thought. Namikaze-san was a legend. Not nearly as amazing as Danzo-sama of course, but still pretty cool.

"He's not _that_ great," Kinoto grumbled. Raiden couldn't see his face, due to the stupid masks they had to wear, but he just knew that he was pouting.

Raiden grinned, allowing himself one last moment of frivolity until he had to act professional. "Don't worry, _Tsuru_. You're still my favorite."

Kinoto didn't say anything in reply, but Raiden could tell that he was smiling.

/=\

Melting into the shadows of the meeting room, the two stayed carefully alert. It wouldn't be a huge deal if people noticed they were there- someone would have to, considering who would be attending this meeting. What mattered is whether or not they were _identified_. A nameless ANBU agent was a lot less sinister than a nameless ROOT agent.

Raiden didn't really understand why, to be honest. They were all working towards the same goal, weren't they?

As usual, Kinoto seemed to understand the motives better than he did. But for some reason, this was the only one Kinoto had refused to explain.

Still hanging back in silence, Raiden didn't get the best view of all the people coming in. It was only until they had all gathered at the front table that he was able to see clearly.

Namikaze sat at the front, as was tradition. He had a serious expression, eyes cold and determined. Absently, Raiden wondered why. Though the man was a talented and near revered leader, he wasn't known for having a straight-laced demeanor.

The meeting must have been more important than Raiden thought.

On his right side, sat Katō Dan- the jounin commander. Raiden didn't know much about him, except for the fact that he was married to the head of the hospital, Senju Tsunade, and that he used a very interesting technique. Something along the lines of spiritual projection? He couldn't quite recall.

The terrifyingly strong Kunoichi herself, sat on the Hokage's other side. Next to her, looking like they very sincerely did not want to be there, were her genin teammates- Orochimaru, head of scientific development, and Jiraiya, the Spymaster. The three of them were arguing heatedly, with threats of being punched through a wall being heard every few minutes.

On the other side of Katō, was Uzumaki Kushina. Wife of the Hokage, head of the cryptography department and all around badass. It was... strange, to see her. In his mind, it seemed like only yesterday he'd been accosted by her at the festival. Raiden thought about that day sometimes. Wondered about how, if things had been different and he hadn't been a member of ROOT, she might have been his jounin-sensei.

And even though he would like to say that he immediately and viciously destroyed that daydream every time it emerged in his mind, that would have been a lie. He loved ROOT, loved his people and his home. But still, sometimes he wondered. And he kept that safely tucked away in the very corner of his dreams, left alone until the next time he would need to cradle it.

The rest of the group started to file into the room, department heads, high profile civilians, and the council elders. Not seeing anyone else even remotely interesting (the clan leaders were usually their very own circus production, but it looked like none of them were gonna be showing up) Raiden almost immediately lost interest.

He sighed inaudibly, starting to get sweaty under his mask. This was gonna be a long wait.

/=\

Raiden lulled in and out of the conversation, half-asleep in his daze of boredom. He wasn't even sure who was talking anymore- he'd gotten lost when they started talking about taxes. God forbid if he was ever tempted to go into politics.

"-this kind of experimental research just isn't enough at this stage, the data needs to be corroborated before I can allow it to have _any_ measure of application-"

"You said that _two weeks ago_ , we can't afford to wait anymore! Your input is highly valued Orochimaru-san, but we need results-"

"We need _proof_! Just because something has worked once doesn't mean that it will every time! If you actually want any kind of improvement, _Councilman_ , than I suggest-"

"Enough!" Kushina interrupted, smacking her hand down on the tabletop. "Nothing is getting done here. Orochimaru is working as fast as he can, making allowances for food and sleep, right?"

Orochimaru nodded stiffly, but something in his expression seemed to warm. "Yes, Sakumo drags me out of the lab on regular intervals."

Raiden perked up, almost leaning out of his hiding place in his haste. Hatake Sakumo was a bit of an oddity to him. A renowned jounin who had declined any seat of power, had worked on training generation after generation of shinobi, and yet by all accounts was described as a kind and easygoing man. The files he had access to on the war veteran were slim pickings, not even a picture inside, but Raiden had always thought admirably of him.

Oh, right- he and Orochimaru were married, weren't they? Raiden had forgotten that. Though to be fair, he didn't tend to pay much attention to shinobi's personal lives. It was their skill set that really mattered to him.

But as Raiden eagerly listened for more, Danzo interrupted Kushina from whatever teasing comment she'd been about to make, bringing the conversation back to their boring science experiment.

He found himself inexplicably disappointed. That quickly turned to shame when Danzo, having caught sight of his disgraceful behavior, gave him a sharp look out of the corner of his eye. Raiden cowered back, immediately returning to his position and going on alert.

He had to be better than that, no distractions whatsoever. Raiden could never bear to let his savior down.

/=\

Several hours later, on their way back to base, Kinoto seemed suspiciously quiet. Even after Danzo had dismissed them, commending them for their good work while simultaneously reminding them about the way their actions would reflect on him, Kinoto still didn't say a word.

Back in their room, Raiden had seen enough. He took off his mask, throwing it down without a second thought and turning to his partner.

"Something wrong, Kin?" Raiden asked, cocking an eyebrow. Kinoto only scowled, dropping his equipment down onto his bed with a huff.

"Danzo interrupted Kushina-san," he said, looking very put-out by the thought. "I wanted to hear what she had to say."

"Oh, really? And why's that?" Raiden teased, moving to sling an arm over Kinoto's shoulder. "Do you have a _crush_ on her or something? She is pretty amazing, but she's also married with a kid. Don't know if you've got much of a chance there."

"What, no!" Kinoto yelled, face turning a marvelous shade of red. "It's- I mean- it's just professional admiration! Completely platonic! Why would I have a c-crush on anyone?"

"Well, she is a bit old for you," Raiden mused, continuing on as if he hadn't heard a thing. "So it would be kinda weird. But I'll support you, man. Even if you are a homewrecker."

Kinoto groaned, falling onto his bed and landing on his gear with a heavy sigh. He immediately stuffed his face into his pillow, attempting to suffocate himself. "I _hate_ you. I hate you so much."

"Ah, but that's your problem," Raiden said, patting his head soothingly. "You don't hate me. You wouldn't hate me even if I tried to set you up on a blind date with some nice redheaded Kunoichi."

"Do it and I'll _kill_ you," came the muffled reply.

He chuckled. "You can try!"

/=\

Kinoto turned over in his bed once more, a frown marring his expression. Something about that whole experience was bothering him.

Why had Danzo reacted like that towards Raiden? He hadn't said anything. Hell, he'd been doing a pretty good job of acting professionally, especially considering Raiden tended to have a lot of trouble just concentrating long enough to do his damn paperwork.

It didn't make sense. What was it about the mention of Hatake Sakumo that had put Danzo on edge?

Something began to ring in the back of his mind, a memory he'd been trying to suppress. All the strange things that had happened in ROOT, all the secrets that were kept from even their longest-serving members. Fuck, Raiden had been part of the organization practically since he was born, and he never seemed to have a damn clue on what was going on.

Kinoto shook his head before nestling back under the sheets, trying to sleep. This line of thought would do him no good.

After all, it one of the first things an operative learned in ROOT: don't ask questions if you're not prepared to handle the answer.


	8. Azalea

["Azalea"- _Take Care of Yourself for Me_ ]

* * *

"Ugh..." Kinoto groaned, his eyes fluttering open. The white ceiling of the infirmary seemed to swim for a moment, but it all evened out quick enough. "What the hell happened? The last thing I remember is-"

He shot up in a panic, immediately cursing when pain shot through his ribcage. "God, what the fuck?"

"Hey, settle down!" Yūto scolded, pushing him back onto the bed. "You fucked up your ribs pretty bad, you're not going anywhere for a while."

"Can't you just heal me?" Kinoto said tiredly, drained from even that small amount of action.

"Not now," Yūto said grimly. "Your injuries were already reported. It'd look suspicious if you were up and walking two hours later."

Kinoto huffed in irritation, but let it go. Yūto was always paranoid about hiding just how well he could heal. Kinoto could understand it, even if he didn't like it. A bit of paranoia was part of the package with their profession.

"Sure, whatever," he settled back into the bed, if grudgingly. Then he looked around, realizing belatedly that his younger partner was nowhere in sight. "Hey, where's Raiden? Off training or something?"

A strange bit of resentment curled in his stomach at the thought. Anytime Kinoto had ever gotten injured, any time it was serious enough for him to end up in the medical ward, Raiden had always been there. The brat would be waiting by his bedside, ready to crack a stupid joke and make fun of him for messing up enough to get injured in the first place. Without Raiden there, the whole room just seemed somehow more depressing.

"He got called away, some important mission," Yūto informed him while fussing with his bandages. Kinoto allowed it with a sigh, and then what Yūto had just said truly sank in.

"Wait, what? Why is he going on a mission without me?" he asked sharply, something ugly stirring beneath the surface of his skin. "What's the purpose of being partners if we keep getting separated all the fucking time?"

Yūto could only shrug, helplessly. He'd been spending so much time at the hospital recently, that he hadn't interacted much with his partner either.

It was so _strange_. Kinoto could understand why it was that way for most of the members of their little group- a lot of them did undercover or infiltration work, and that required a lot of time away from base.

But for the others, it made no sense. Fū and Torune were together a lot, but only because they spent most of their time working as personal guards for Danzo. They typically had separate missions.

Shin and Sai had been stuck to each other's sides for as long as he could remember- if you could find one, you could invariably find the other. They even thought of themselves as something akin to brothers. They never said it out loud, of course, but Kinoto could tell. They weren't nearly as subtle as they thought they were. But even those two had been getting pulled farther apart in these past few years.

Why put them in partners at all, if this was to be the only result?

"Well, do you know what kind of mission it was?" Kinoto asked finally, focusing more on the present. He could ponder those queries later- for now, he had a wayward partner of his own to locate.

"Hunting down some missing-nins. Typical bounty shit."

"Alone?" he blurted out, panic rising as he struggled to get out of the stiff hospital bed.

"Hey, stay down, damn it!" Yūto snapped. "And no, he's not alone. He got sent out with Sai and Shin, so stop your bitching and stay still."

Kinoto complied, gritting his teeth.

The more he tried to push it away, the more ground his theory began to gain. There was something rotten in ROOT.

But still, he couldn't worry about it now. And he wouldn't worry about Raiden either. He was a capable agent with strong combat skills, and was on a relatively straightforward mission with dependable comrades. Kinoto was sure that it would all go fine.

/=\

" _Fuck this shit_!" Raiden screeched, having lost all hope at subtlety. "I don't get paid enough to deal with this bullshit, you assholes!"

"Too fucking bad, you little brat!" The enemy nin retorted, swinging their sword in a violent strike.

Raiden dodged backwards, only to knock shoulders with Sai as he did the same.

"Watch it!" Raiden snapped, too worked up to be nice about his phrasing. Sai only grunted, unsheathing his tanto and jumping back into the fray.

Fuck, he hated this. Now, he didn't really mind working with Shin and Sai- they were good people, and had a fighting dynamic that wasn't totally exclusive to other people joining in, unlike Fū and Torune. But the fact of the matter was, they weren't his partners. And sure, he didn't mind training with them, but spending time with them in a non-combat situation at a secure base was one thing, and being forced to trust them with his life in the field was quite another.

That was why he had Kin- to be his partner, to be his _friend_.

Raiden felt like he'd been missing that a lot, recently.

"Damn it," he hissed out, dodging another blow. This wasn't the time for moody introspection, anyway. He had some nuke nin to murder.

And for a good ten minutes, that's what he did. And it was all going well, until one Kunoichi got the drop on him- literally.

She landed with a great battle cry, digging her long sword through his armor, and through his shoulder as a result. Raiden went down, pinned to the grass and fighting back a pained scream.

On the other side of the clearing, Sai heard his yell and turned just a bit, momentarily distracted. Their eyes met, and Raiden watched in horror, his own enemy forgotten, as another soldier swung their sickle towards Sai with enough force to slice his head off.

 _Thankfully_ , it didn't hit Sai. It hit Shin instead.

Shin went down with a choked cry, chest grotesquely cut open, and Sai _screamed_.

A wave of killing intent flooded the clearing, knocking all the enemies back a few feet. It took them all a moment to get their bearings, but a moment was all Sai needed. Fast, faster than Raiden had ever seen him move before, Sai ruthlessly cut down all the nuke ninja, efficient and deadly like the model ROOT agent that he was.

Overcoming his own shock and dread, Raiden shakily pulled the sword from his shoulder, swallowing back the pained grunts that were trying to escape. He stood up, limping towards where Sai was now standing, staring motionlessly at the body of his partner.

"Hey," he mumbled, a bone-deep weariness beginning to drag him down. "C'mon, we're almost done, let's just-"

He paused, taking a closer look. "That is _not_ blood."

It was water. Face down in the dirt, Shin's blood should've been pooling around him after a rural attack like that. Instead it was just _water_. Raiden and Sai took one look at the scene, and got to work.

They flipped him over, still half expecting some gaping wound. Instead, it looked like there was an indent in his chest, like someone had knocked him really hard with a pole or something. And even as they watched, the mark slowly filled back up, like an inflating balloon.

After a moment, Shin groaned, regaining consciousness with a scowl. "Ugh, what happened? Sai, are you alright?"

 _Of course that's your first concern_ , Raiden thought fondly. He was shaken out of it though, when Sai suddenly hissed in pain.

"Everything is... _everything_ ," Sai said weakly, seeming to regain some control over himself at seeing that his partner was, indeed, alive. He clutched at his head, stumbling slightly. "What is going on?"

Raiden staggered forward on his aching legs, gently grabbing the younger operative's chin to get a better look. "Let me see, I'm sure it's nothi-"

He cut himself off, eyes widening. They stood in silence for a moment until he finally shook himself back into awareness.

"You activated your sharingan," Raiden breathed, totally stunned. Based on the many dangerous situations Sai had been in and it hadn't activated, Raiden had figured that Sai was one of the few Uchiha who didn't have a sharingan. Clearly, he'd been mistaken. However- "Wait... it looks kind of weird. Aren't the sharingan supposed to have the comma's in them? Yours looks like a pinwheel."

"Why do I have the sharingan," Sai said flatly. It wasn't even a question, just a statement.

"You're an _Uchiha_ ," Raiden said slowly, wondering if he might've gotten some head trauma in the battle as well. Might've explained some things. "Not sure what clan Shin is from, but he's clearly got a Kekkai Genkai too, so that's cool."

Sitting on the floor of the clearing, looking very pale and possibly in shock, Shin let out a pitiful whine. Sai didn't react, and just continued to stare at Raiden blankly.

There was no way. He couldn't possibly- _oh, shit_.

"What the fuck," Raiden blurted out, feeling incredulous even with the pain emanating from his shoulder. "Did you not _know_? How could you _not know_?"

"No one ever _told_ me!" Sai said sharply, getting uncharacteristically emotional about it, which Raiden couldn't really blame him for. "And besides, it's not my place to know! And don't act like you're any better!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raiden said frustratedly. "I'm not the one who looks like they could be literally _any_ Uchiha's long lost twin!"

"You're both oblivious idiots who have no idea of how to speak with any sort of tact!" Shin butted in, clearly having had enough of their bickering. "This isn't the time, anyway! Sai, do you know how to turn the sharingan off?"

That sure made them pause. Sai turned to Raiden, but he could only shrug helplessly.

"Well, shit," Shin said, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "We're in a field full of corpses, we all almost died, and apparently Sai and I also have Kekkai Genkais. Just perfect."

"Must be a Thursday," Raiden offered in one last attempt at humor. No one laughed. "Jeez, tough crowd."


	9. White Heather

["White Heather"- _Protection; Wishes Will Come True_ ]

* * *

Yūto hummed in thought, pen scratching against the documents he was looking over. The room seemed so quiet without Yota around, but he was only able to enjoy it for a few hours before it began to feel unbearably lonely.

He sighed, pushing his papers away. There was little point in trying to work on them now- he was too distracted. It had been at least a week since the last time he had seen his partner. Yota's specialization was in sabotage, so of course their paths didn't cross very often outside of the base, but _still_... A week was a long time to not even _see_ each other. That fact alone meant that Yota was probably still out of the country. It was a bit of an unsettling thought.

And it was all that damn soft-hearted idiot's fault.

Three days ago, Kinoto had returned from an assassination job with some pretty serious injuries. It wasn't entirely unexpected- for all that the man was a model shinobi in almost every other way, he just didn't have the fortitude needed for assassination. Surprisingly, he was the opposite of his partner in that way. Raiden had never seemed to have any trouble with his assigned specialization, to the point that Yūto was a bit worried about his mental state. Even for a member of ROOT, it just wasn't normal to be so nonchalant, sometimes even _cheerful_ about having a career in stabbing people to death.

Of course, no one in their little group was normal by any standards. And Yūto had his own suspicions about that- he had suspicions about a lot of things, to be honest. Not so much about ROOT itself (almost everyone involved in ROOT knew what the organization really was- only the willfully ignorant and the truly blind didn't), but about the _reason_ behind it. It's _purpose_. And the true purpose of why his circle of friends had been cut off from the other agents, carefully distanced and kept apart from the normal workings. Why _their_ part of the organization had such specific secrets.

Yūto scowled to himself, subconsciously clenching his fists. He hated not having important answers. It made everything more difficult- how was he supposed to make an informed decision if he didn't have all the facts?

He was jolted out of his increasingly irate thoughts when someone knocked on his door. Yūto got up, fixing a smile on his face and shifting his grip on the pen. Stabbing people wasn't _only_ in Raiden's job description after all.

But when he pulled the door open, he relaxed minutely.

"Speak of the devil," Yūto said in amusement, leaning against the doorframe. That quickly disappeared when he saw Raiden's haggard appearance. He straightened up, briefly running his eyes over the other's body.

It might have been hard to tell for the average person, but Yūto had experience in examining the ROOT body armor- he could catalogue any injuries an agent might have had with only a momentary glance.

 _Shoulder wound, stab_. Yūto surmised, his entire examination taking mere seconds. _Pretty nasty, but shouldn't have permanent damage. Bruises everywhere, as is to be expected. Twisted ankle, too._

All in all, it could have been worse. Or at least that's what he thought, until he saw Shin and Sai standing behind Raiden.

Sai, specifically, was the reason for his alarm.

"I can't turn it off," he said plainly, gesturing to the strangely intricate sharingan spinning lazily in his eyes. "Help, please?"

"Well, since you said please," Yūto said faintly. Now _that_ was rather unexpected. But he shook it off, and ushered the three of them in.

"No one saw you three arrive, right?" he said absently, rifling through his bag of emergency supplies.

"Nah, we're good!" Shin smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, and when he sat on the bed, his hands shook faintly.

Yūto didn't comment, and merely got to work. He deactivated Sai's sharingan with a quick application of chakra to a specific pressure point, a standard technique for a Konoha medic. It also worked on the byakugan, helpfully.

After he had that worked out, he moved on to the real injuries.

"...Yūto-san?"

"Yes, Sai?" he answered, vaguely surprised that Sai had been the first to break the silence.

"Were you aware of my heritage?" he asked, uncharacteristically hesitant.

Yūto stalled for a moment by messing with the bandages, thoughts racing. Finally, he decided to go with a slightly doctored version of the truth.

"I had suspected," he admitted, concentrating on healing the wound on Sai's upper back, nearly cutting into his neck. "I didn't want to say anything, in case you were trying to keep it under wraps."

 _Knowledge is power_ , he thought to himself grimly. Though it was unlikely that many of his fellow agents were of the same mindset, Yūto didn't believe in giving up any more information than what was absolutely necessary.

Turning to get more supplies, he caught Raiden's eye.

Yūto could practically see the questions forming in his mind, and had to turn his head slightly so that the younger agent wouldn't see his smirk. It would be interesting to see how that would develop. Raiden was, after all, the most devoted of any ROOT operative.

Ah- now that he was thinking about that...

Yūto turned to rummage in his desk, pulling out the scroll he needed with a triumphant sound. "Shin! This is for you. It's been sitting here for about a week, but I wouldn't worry. The tag on it says it's infiltration, so the mission hasn't begun yet."

Shin's eyebrows were raised in mild confusion, but he accepted the scroll easily. Peeling it open, he read it carefully, his expression growing more curious by the moment.

"What does it say?" Raiden asked, trying to peer over Sai's shoulder and get a peek. Yūto tugged him back into place, but Shin merely smiled.

"There's a big event coming up in the village," he said calmly, looking a lot less shaken than before. Clearly, being back in headquarters had helped him to regain his equilibrium. "I'm going undercover to work with the officiators. Should be interesting, at the very least."

Yūto narrowed his eyes in suspicion, thinking back to all the gossip buzzing around the hospital. But he merely continued wrapping Raiden's shoulder, and kept his peace. He wasn't going to interfere- not yet.

Not until he saw the way the chips were going to fall. After all, it wouldn't do to commit himself to something, and then end up on the losing side.

/=\

Raiden began the slow walk back to his own room, brow furrowed in thought. His mask was held limply in his hands, the damn thing practically dyed red with the blood smeared all over it. But for once, he didn't even care.

Something was wrong.

He wasn't quite sure _what_ , but he knew there was _something_. Sai not knowing about his heritage... That was completely ridiculous. There had to be some kind of reason.

Briefly, he wondered if it was the fault of the commanders. Those officers had never withheld their contempt for his little pocket of ROOT, and it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Raiden sped up, eager to return to his own space. As he threw the door open, it felt like coming home. Kinoto was there, resting on the bed with an open book laying on his lap.

Raiden brightened upon seeing his partner, and he opened his mouth to tell Kinoto of his newfound suspicions, before he caught sight of the other's bandaged chest and head. His mouth shut with an audible click, and it suddenly felt like a thousand pounds of weight had been dropped on his shoulders.

There's no way he could tell Kinoto. That wasn't fair. He didn't even have any evidence- how embarrassing would it be if he was completely off the mark? And for a more personal reason... Kinoto _believed_ in ROOT, in it's message. The safety of Konohagakure, that was the most important thing in the world to him. Raiden couldn't relate, though he'd never said as much out loud. This village meant almost nothing to him- Raiden worked to protect it because that was what Danzo-sama wanted, and Raiden would do anything for him.

But he didn't want to ruin that dream for Kinoto. That would be cruel.

"You're back," Kinoto said, looking genuinely happy to see him. It was kinda... nice, to know that he had someone like that. Someone who cared.

"What," Raiden teased, "did you miss me?"

"I'm just glad you're alright," Kinoto admitted, all the tension going out of his shoulders.

 _Soft_ , Raiden thought amusedly, but for once he held his tongue. He had missed this, truly. He approached his partner, sighing gustily as he sat on the floor by the other's bed. He stretched his arms out, ignoring the slight burn of his shoulder, and made himself comfortable.

Kinoto's hand circled around Raiden's wrist, pressing lightly against his pulse point. Raiden only smiled.

 _Soft_ , he thought to himself, _but good._


	10. White Tulip

["White Tulip"- _There's Sunshine in Your Smile_ ]

* * *

"Good work, everyone," Inu said tersely, readjusting the strap for his arm guard. "Let's get back, we're only about an hour away if we keep a steady pace."

"An _hour_? Fucking hell, man! That'll only happen if we rush the whole way!" Kuma complained, though nonetheless continued to pack up his gear.

"So, we'll rush," Hato shrugged, seeming unbothered by the thought. He was slouching slightly, and kept tapping his hand along his kunai pouch.

Tsuchi recognized that little habit. Just as he recognized the man behind the mask.

Shiranui Genma, Yamashiro Aoba, Hatake Kakashi. All well-known shinobi, and fairly well liked. Strong, too, apart or together, even if their specializations didn't really match up.

Which made Tsuchi all the more suspicious of why he had been put on this team. He didn't leave ROOT headquarters often- he mostly did all the necessary but tedious paperwork that was avoided by everyone else.

Not to say he couldn't handle himself- he was at ANBU level, even if he would much rather prefer to be solely a paperwork ninja. Still, this was suspicious. Especially since the order to go on this mission had come from Danzo himself.

Just what was that old bastard planning...?

"Oi, Hitsuji, you coming?" Yamashiro called out, his intimidating bear mask seeming to glare at him.

"Mm. On my way," Tsuchi replied, checking to make sure his own mask was firmly in place. His partner had been the one to pick his mask for him, and he was sure that Honoka thought that it was funny.

It was, just a little bit. Tsuchi was no stranger to irony, and the fact that he was donning the 'sheep' mask was not lost on him. He couldn't even refute it, not really. He had never been one to lie, not even to himself. _Especially_ then.

"Alright, let's get moving," Hatake barked out, already going ahead. Yamashiro cursed under his breath, but Shiranui only let out a low chuckle before following after him.

Despite the antagonism and teasing jabs being thrown around, it was easy to see that they were friends. Tsuchi found himself a bit jealous. His own companions at ROOT were only tenuous connections at best. Honoka was irreplaceable, of course, but outside of his small group of allies he had very little friendship.

Even with the others in the organization he considered true friends, he sometimes had difficulty spending time with them.

Sai and Shin, though good people, were ultimately quite clueless about ROOT's true machinations. Shin might have been a bit closer to the realization, but he had shut his eyes to the truth. He didn't want to see it, and Sai seemed completely unable to.

Yota and Yūto... they were almost worse, in a way. Yūto had clearly known from the beginning, but he cared for little except his own profit. He couldn't be relied on, in any case. And Yota treated everything like a game. Even for Tsuchi, as soft-spoken as he tended to be, it was infuriating.

Fū and Torune both knew, no doubt, but were too loyal to ROOT for them to really be considered allies. He couldn't trust them not to go running back to Danzo, at least.

Yakumo was the only one he thought was completely genuine. She, too, hated what ROOT was, what it had warped them all into. But she was meek, and didn't have the heart to actually do anything with her knowledge. And her partner, well. Tonbo was a seriously twisted bastard, that's all he had to say on that. Personally, Tsuchi thought that he'd been spending way too much time dicking around with T&I.

Kinoto and Raiden weren't even worth mentioning. He felt a little guilty thinking it, though. There was something undoubtedly _good_ inside them, Kinoto especially. The crane-masked operative was so kind, even if he tried to hide it under a gruff demeanor. It made something ache, deep inside Tsuchi's chest, to know that this sweet, honorable young man had unknowingly pledged his life to an organization that was threatening all he had sworn to protect.

Raiden, though... He was different. Tsuchi wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He was volatile and often emotional, no matter how deep he tried to bury it. And he was almost _fanatically_ loyal, to a degree that made Tsuchi very uneasy.

Subconsciously, he pressed a hand over his chest at the thought. Raiden had almost killed him in training once. If that chakra scalpel had cut any deeper into his armor, he would've been bleeding out on the concrete floor. And he wasn't sure if Raiden had even _noticed_.

"You alright, over there?" Shiranui called out cheerfully.

Snapped out of his increasingly grim thoughts, Tsuchi nodded an affirmative, biting back his tongue. He knew that he would only say something to embarrass himself.

Not saying anything didn't really seem to help, however. The rest of the run back to Konoha was still spent in awkward silence.

/=\

At the ANBU base, Tsuchi hovered by the door, looking to make a quick getaway. Usually he ducked away before they even got to base, but he'd gotten dragged along by Shiranui, and was now desperately trying to leave the locker room before the man tried to badger him into anything else.

"Hey, we should go drinking! We deserve it, after the complete _shitshow_ this mission ended up being."

Yeah, something like _that_.

Fortunately, Hatake saved him from being the first to decline.

"Can't, Genma. Promised Obito that I'd help train his team tomorrow. They're still pretty disappointed about not participating in the exams. I'll have to get up early for that."

"Still can't believe that the lazy-ass Uchiha finally learned the meaning of punctuality," Yamashiro snorted, tossing his cloak lazily onto the bench. "And before you ask, Shiranui, that's a _no_ on my part too. I actually like to relax after missions. I know that's a foreign concept for you, unless you've got Raidō up your-"

"Okay, you've made your point," Shiranui interrupted, teeth clenching down harshly on the senbon he'd finally been able to pluck out of his pouch. "What about you, Hitsuji?"

Tsuchi twitched uneasily, not having expected the attention to turn to him. He was a bit glad of it, though. He really didn't need to hear those kinds of things about other people's lives. Bad enough that Tonbo was always ranting about how sexy he thought Shiranui and Namiashi's voices were when he got back from working at T&I. He really didn't need any of the gory details.

"No, thank you," he replied politely, managing to keep those mental images out of his head with sheer force of will. "I have a previous engagement."

And by that, he meant a date. With his bed. God, he could practically hear it calling from here. He couldn't wait to get back to his quarters and just scream into his pillow for a few hours. It didn't actually make him feel any better, but he just needed to scream sometimes. It was either that or train until he was coughing up blood, and that was more Raiden's thing.

Tsuchi made a break for it, rushing out the door and praying that there wouldn't be any more interruptions. Of course, he wasn't allowed that courtesy.

As he tried not to make his retreat too obvious, he slammed right into someone's chest. A firm, green-clad chest.

"Ah! My apologies, youthful comrade! I will do one hundred push-ups in order to make up for this transgression!" The loud exclamation was followed by a gleaming white smile.

Tsuchi was still in a mild state of awe. There was _so much green_. And what was Maito Gai even _doing_ in the ANBU base?

"Uh, that- I mean, it's okay, I don't, uh," he stumbled over his words, falling back into his old speech patterns in his shock. "T-there's no need! My bad! Uh... _Goodbye_!"

With that, Tsuchi forwent all grace and simply body-flickered away as fast as he could. Under the mask, his face was flushed red in embarrassment.

Shit, he was a total _idiot_.

/=\

"Not very subtle, is he?" Genma observed, watching Hitsuji make a hasty retreat. It was largely fond, though. He'd worked with the man on several missions, and it was hard not to like him, even with his shady background. Some people just assumed he was shy, or that he didn't want his ANBU persona to be associated with his regular life (some people were like that, and Genma could sympathize even if he could never do it himself), but Genma knew better.

But still, there was something eminently charming about the man, for all his awkward conduct. Aoba could make as many overprotective mommy jokes as he wanted, but Genma hated to see a fellow Konoha shinobi suffer.

"Not a bit!" Gai agreed cheerfully, which was kind of rich, coming from him. But he quickly sobered, and Genma took notice, straightening up intently. His genin teammate rarely dropped his enthusiasm, so Genma always paid attention when he did.

"Though I apologize for scaring him away," Gai began gravely, a serious expression on his face, "there is something that must be discussed about that man."

"Gai...?" Kakashi raised a brow, taking off his eyepatch and refastening his headband over the sharingan eye he shared with his genin teammate and trusted 'friend'. "What's up? I know he's a weirdo, but you don't have much of an advantage there."

Genma almost winced. Despite all the time he spent with his more mild-mannered teammates, Kakashi had never quite learned tact.

"No, I speak of his origins," Gai said, for once not rising to the bait. "I have heard whispers of other shinobi like him throughout the village, in all different departments. Socially-distant, almost completely unknown. No one remembers going through the academy with them, and if they do recognize them, none are quite sure of why. I am finding myself... concerned. Especially after one of my youthful students came to me, worried after being approached by one such shinobi."

"Who, Rock Lee?" Genma asked sharply, fists clenching at the thought of someone going after those kids. He'd helped supervise often enough to have gotten attached to them, and they were _good_ kids. If some creepy bastard was trying to stalk them...

Gai shook his head. "No, Tenten. She informed that she was visiting some of her civilian friends at the orphanage when she was confronted by a woman wearing a Konoha headband. Apparently, she was told that she had great potential, and that she'd caught the eye of some very powerful people. I find myself uncertain whether it was meant to be a warning of some kind, or a threat. Either way, I'm not encouraged."

Aoba made a sound not dissimilar to a suffocating cat. Though he tried to refute it, he was just as fond of those kids as Genma was. "So what, do we infiltrators or something?"

"I don't think so," Kakashi said firmly, drawing their attention back to him. "At least, not in the sense that you're thinking."

"Then what do _you_ propose?" Aoba grouched.

"I can't quite say for sure," he answered pensively. "My father and Orochimaru... I've heard them discussing this a bit. They think it's one of the council member's private organizations. Apparently, it's suspicious, but largely legal. Father seemed displeased by the whole thing, though. Even without an official position on the council, he has quite a bit of sway, not to mention the trouble Orochimaru could stir up. I think they're planning to do something."

"I hope so," Genma frowned. "This doesn't seem like the kind of thing that should wait for long."

The four of them shared a long glance, before sighing.

"We'll wait to bring it up to Hokage-sama," Genma concluded, though not feeling all too pleased by it. "If something happens - and that includes someone approaching any of the genin again - we'll have to act. But for now, let's keep our peace. God knows that never lasts for long."

* * *

Woo! Chapter ten! Getting closer and closer. Somehow, I wasn't sure that I would get this far. I had it all planned out, but it still felt so far away. Well, only 15 chapters left now! Things are really picking up at this point, and the more well-known characters are gonna be popping up out of the woodworks. This is a completely character driven fic, so I'm excited to get more into these interactions and show how much things have changed in this AU world. You get a taste of it with Kakashi in this chapter, but this is just the beginning.

Hey, leave a comment! Let me know what you've liked so far, what characters you're interested in seeing an appearance from. I love to discuss my stories, so don't be shy!

Also, I've got a tumblr: it's under mm-mendell, slightly different username from here. (sorry, ff is still being a huge baby about links) ~~~ I'll be honest, mainly I just look at cool art and rant about comics/manga, but feel free to shoot me a question there if you want! Thanks so much for reading, and willingly going through all of my babbling. See you again next week!


	11. Gladiolus

["Gladiolus"- _Give Me a Break...I'm Really Sincere; Flower of the Gladiators_ ]

* * *

Shin let out a deep sigh, nervously tugging on his ponytail. It felt strange to change his usual attire in such a way, but it was necessary.

Instead of the standard ROOT uniform, he was wearing the typical jounin outfit. A flak jacket and thin pants, all drab in color and looking very ill-suited on him. Even his old uniform had some personalized elements to it- it would have to, or else Sai wouldn't have been able to wear his crop-top. Shin shuddered to think of what should happen the first time someone told his young partner that he wasn't allowed to wear it- heads would roll, no doubt.

He couldn't fight a smile at the thought. He was just imagining Danzo and Sai in a tug of war over Sai's crop-top. The mental image was almost enough to make him forget his unease at this mission. But not quite.

"Shin-kun?" a voice called out.

Shin turned, giving a smile even though it felt awkward. "Yes, sir!"

Katō Dan, jounin commander and husband of the infamous Senju Tsunade, stood there, gesturing towards him to come over. Shin complied, though not without some apprehension. It felt a bit silly, as there was little chance of any of these shinobi recognizing him, especially since he'd dyed his hair brown and dotted a light dusting of freckles across his nose. But the nervous energy just wouldn't abate.

"Good to have you," Katō said, nodding in greeting. "You ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be!" Shin laughed, though the way he kept running a hand through his hair belied his lively statement. "I'm excited to see how it's all going to go down, honestly. I'm just imagining all the people that are gonna be showing up. It's all pretty exhilarating, huh?"

"Definitely!" Katō grinned in reply, reaching up to tuck a piece of his long, silvery hair behind his ear. "I saw in your file that you got a field promotion, right?"

"Yeah," Shin nodded, praying that no one would look too deeply into that. Or ask what kind of mission he'd been on to deserve an advancement straight to jounin. As far as his 'official file' said, he'd graduated from the academy, gone into the Genin Corps and somehow lucked out enough to get involved in some kinda big, important mission. It was the kind of alibi that made sense, so long as you didn't think about it for too long. Or ask any questions.

ROOT was many things, but despite Danzo's best efforts, subtle wasn't one of them. Honestly, it was a miracle that no one had bothered to look too closely at their operations- they'd have been screwed at the first person to raise the alarms. Having the support of a village elder, who was for a long time also the trusted friend of the Hokage, really _did_ go a long way.

Shin didn't begrudge them for it. Even if the situation completely sucked for him, personally, it was worth it. Because in the end, it was for the good of the village. And wasn't that what they were all fighting for?

"Well, good for you," Katō replied, and Shin forcibly pulled himself back to the present. "This'll be your first time watching the chunin exams, then? I've heard we're gonna get a nice crowd this year!"

Shin followed along when he began to walk towards the stadium, only a little nervous now.

"We're going for a bit of a different theme this year," he began, gesturing expressively as he spoke. "Minato's really pushing for more of a 'teamwork' angle. Kushina tried to protest, saying that the other villages would make fun of us for it, but then Minato countered with the fact that she just wanted to see children engage in gladiator style death matches, which was totally true, _believe_ me. So she backed down, but not without some booing. She was helped, of course by Tsume-san, who also seems to enjoy watching children fight to the death. They were resoundingly shot down, which I won't deny that I'm happy with. I remember Nawaki's chunin exam being a complete nightmare. Of course, that was during a time when we were all certain that war was going to strike at any moment, but the comparison still stands."

"Uh... right," Shin said eloquently, head spinning with all of the rapid-fire information being thrown at him. Fucking hell, he never knew that Katō was such a chatterbox. Usually he just saw the man standing next to the podium when the Hokage was making a speech, in which his job was to just look regal and wave at people. That probably explained it.

"Oh, and don't even get me _started_ on Shizune's exam-"

"Yes, please don't," a new voice said dryly. Shin was about ready to cry from gratitude, until he saw who it was.

Uchiha Shisui smirked back at him- and of course it was him. One of the only people to see Shin when he was off duty, and thus not wearing his mask. Of course. That was just Shin's luck.

"Hey. Need a save?" he smirked, thankfully without any sort of recognition.

"Oh, come on," Katō huffed, though his expression remained friendly. "I'm not _that_ bad."

"Not _yet_ ," Shisui retorted, before reaching out to clasp Shin's shoulder, giving him a conspiratorial look. "Just wait until he starts talking about Tsunade-san. He'll never shut up."

Shin laughed, the sound awkward and strained. "O-oh, that's... _nice_?"

At that, Shisui's grip on him tightened briefly, as if in surprise. He spun Shin around, running his eyes over his face intently.

 _Oh, fuck._

"Hey, I know you!" he exclaimed, sounding absolutely delighted. "We never see people at that crappy training ground, so that day really stuck in my mind. You changed your hair! How's your brother doing? Learn any cool techniques? What's-"

"Woah, slow down, Shisui-kun!" Katō chuckled, pulling Shin gently out of the other teen's eager grasp. "And you say _I_ talk a lot!"

"You _do_ ," Shisui replied mulishly, though he let go without a fight.

Shin thought that he was in the clear, but then they both turned to him expectantly. He scrambled for what to say.

"My brother? He's, uh-" _If you're asking about Sai, he's busy repressing the last two weeks. If you're asking about Raiden, well. Last time I saw him, he seemed to be going through some kind of mental breakdown, so._ "Fine. He's fine. A pain in the ass, but that's not unusual. As for the hair, it was just a last minute sort of thing. Decided that if I was going to be doing an important job like this, that I should at least try to look professional. Besides, it was a pain to keep re-dying it blue all the time."

They didn't need to know that the blue was actually his natural hair color. He wanted to keep his identity as ambiguous as possible, after all.

"That's fair," Shisui nodded agreeably, before giving him a teasing slap on the back. "I wouldn't worry too much about being professional, though. This is Konoha after all, if we don't act at least a _little_ weird the other villages will get suspicious!"

Now _that_ made Shin let out a real laugh. "Alright, I'll take your word for it!"

/=\

When participants began to gather for the first part of the exam, Shin went and made himself scarce. He was proctoring the third part, so he didn't really have to worry for now.

Instead, he kept to the shadows and watched the proceedings with curiosity. As was to be expected, there was a ton of Konoha teams. Whichever village was hosting the exams inevitably put in the most teams, as there was really very little to lose in that situation. A familiar environment, surrounded by allies- what more could you ask for?

He was a bit surprised by the amount of Amegakure teams, however. They'd only recently started to recover from the aftereffects of their civil war, and their economy was still pretty shitty. They were probably hoping that sending more of their teams out into the world would draw more attention to their village, and remind people that they were available to commission for jobs. It was a sound strategy, if a bit basic.

Shin found himself intrigued, now. Most of the Kage's were supposed to be here was well, and the Amekage undoubtedly would, seeing as how Amegakure and Konohagakure had been fairly solid allies for quite some time. He'd heard good things about Yahiko. It would be interesting to see how the man lived up to the legend.

Quickly, his attention was stolen by the ongoing test. Shisui was the proctor for this first one, and Shin was reluctantly impressed. It was only a basic test of will and endurance, combined with information gathering skills and stealth, but he made it seem like a _performance_.

Shisui was loud and exuberant, alternatively setting people at ease before bearing down on them for some suspected wrongdoing. He had somehow raised his annoyingly nosy and cheerful tendencies to an art form, the perfect way to distract a bunch of genin with a time limit. He didn't try and scare them- he didn't _need_ to. Instead, he heckled them, trying to get one of the genin riled up enough to respond to his comments. If anyone did, he would have them disqualified for 'disturbing the other participants'.

Shin found himself increasingly amused by the whole thing. He saw one Inuzuka get elbowed repeatedly by his Hyuga and Aburame teammates in order to stop him from shouting out. He even noticed Yakushi Kabuto- a chunin plant, no doubt, subtly egging on anyone who seemed to be working up the nerve to stand up for themselves. He could appreciate that kind of slyness, even if it was coming from someone who Yūto had declared to be his 'mortal enemy'. Perhaps especially then, if he was being honest with himself.

But soon enough, it was over. A decent amount of teams were eliminated, and when Katō entered the room to make his announcement of the next task, Shisui approached him with a wicked grin.

"Did you see the look on that Uzumaki girl's face?" he bragged, eyes lit up with so much real enjoyment that Shin couldn't help but go along. " _Man_ , on my last run through I thought she was actually gonna take a swing at me! And hell, that's not even _mentioning_ those Kurama twins that were giving me the murder eyes-"

He chattered on like that for a good ten minutes, and even though Shin had seen it all happen, he was still happy to listen. Shisui was such a genuine person- blunt in his actions and speech, free with his affection and praise. It was so different from what he was used to in ROOT.

Shin thought that he could grow to like it. Perhaps he already had. Nevertheless, he was content to let Shisui babble on, adding excited hand gestures to the mix when his words just weren't enough. It was cute.

Honestly, Shisui reminded him of all the traits he loved in his ROOT comrades. It was like seeing Tonbo's mischievous nature mixed with Yakumo's subtle kindness, Fū's sarcastic quips combined with Torune's propensity for enthusiastic rants.

It made Shin feel just a bit more at home. Like the rest of the world wasn't too different from his own little corner of it after all.

"Alright you two," Katō said, cutting off Shisui mid-sentence. "We're about to head over to the Forest of Death. You don't technically have to come, but I thought I'd let you know just in case. Remember, Shin-kun, you have to be at the stadium when the final task begins, okay?"

"Not a problem," Shin replied, more confident than he truly felt. In fact, he was feeling a bit queasy just at the thought of it.

Perhaps Shisui picked up on it, because he clasped Shin's shoulder with a serious look.

"Hey, don't worry. You've got this," He gave a gentle smile, before then adding teasingly. "And even if you do mess up, I'll still like you."

"Gee, _thanks_ ," Shin said dryly. He was almost tempted to roll his eyes. Clearly, he'd been spending too much time around Raiden.

Shisui laughed, slinging an arm over Shin's shoulder. He dragged the other to the next event place, seemingly intent on watching the spectacle unfold. Shin went along, but his heart wasn't in it. He'd been fine at first, but then-

 _Then_ , he'd seen the team Shisui had been talking about earlier, with the Uzumaki girl. He was surprised he hadn't noticed them earlier. The girl had a rather strange hairstyle, smooth on one side and jagged on the other, as if she had gotten up that morning and decided to only brush half of her hair, and one of her male teammates seemed way too tall to be a teenager. But it was her other teammate that really caught his attention.

Silvery-blue hair, only a few shades lighter than his own. The same type of haircut, the same eyes- though admittedly, Shin's were darker in shade. Regardless, if the two were to stand side by side, they could easily be mistaken for brothers.

But that was impossible. Wasn't it?


	12. Mistletoe

["Mistletoe"- _Kiss Me; Affection; To Surmount Difficulties_ ]

* * *

Kinoto stretched, letting out a deep sigh as he did. His ribs had finally healed enough for him to take on some missions- he still got headaches sometimes, but they were easy enough to shrug off. Unfortunately, it seemed that the more mobile he became, the more brooding Raiden acted.

He didn't get it. Raiden refused to talk about his last mission, and it was making something itch in the back of Kinoto's mind. Raiden had always told him everything (even the stuff Kinoto really wasn't interested in), and he _should!_ They were partners, they were supposed to _support_ each other. He couldn't do that if Raiden shut himself off.

Kinoto glanced over to the opposite side of the room, where Raiden was still in bed. He could barely see the other's spiky hair underneath the covers, and he was curled up into a little ball like a child. It made Kinoto ache, sometimes. Raiden should have had the chance to be a child. But he'd made his choice, and Kinoto wasn't in much of a position to judge. He'd joined ROOT when he was only nine years old, after all. Still...

Quietly getting his gear, he closed the door behind him gently, mindful not to wake his younger partner, and headed down the hallway. As he passed by the other agents, he carefully avoided their gazes. They seemed to stare at him wherever he went, porcelain-covered faces turning to watch his every move. It was unnerving, the way most agents didn't take off their animal masks. Not unless they were in their unit's break room, at least.

Kinoto didn't bother to wear his. For one, he hated wearing that damn mask, and for two- he didn't have much of a reason to be professional with these bastards. Ever since he'd been transferred to the 'special' unit, they'd all pretty much hated him. Except for a choice few, like Izumi-san and Commander Kawauso, his unit was treated with mild disdain at best.

Whatever, none of that mattered right now. He'd been itching to go out and do some real work, especially after being cooped up so long. Perhaps Danzo would give him a retrieval mission this time, instead of an assassination? Kinoto would _love_ if that happened.

Lost in thought, he almost walked into the door to Danzo's office, barely managing to save himself from that embarrassment at the last second. He hung back for a moment, wanting to take a breather and regain his composure, when he heard voices.

Curiosity overcoming his better judgement, Kinoto crept closer, carefully masking his chakra in order to better listen in.

"-this plan of yours just isn't giving any results, Danzo! I'm not saying that you need to abandon it, but it couldn't hurt to come up with another option."

Homura-san... One of the village elders. What was he doing _here_ , in ROOT's base?

"What, so you just want me to walk away? Impossible. Too much has been sacrificed for this, too many lives have been lost. I _have_ to do this, for the good of Konoha-"

"That's what you always say! For the _good of the village_ , you are willing to destroy families, ruin the lives of countless people! I have seen your soldiers, Danzo, do not presume me to be so ignorant!"

"Yes, and who _gave_ me those soldiers in the first place?"

"We gave you the children at risk, the abandoned, the scorned! And we did that because you you said that you would do what was best, not _only_ for the village, but for the children as well. But you have warped them into slaves, unaware of their own circumstances or tragedy! You promised safety, old friend. Now I wonder just _who_ you were promising it to."

"The ones who matter," Danzo replied tersely, and Kinoto reeled back, as if struck. Was that what Danzo thought of them? The man that Raiden worshipped, that had always been a kind, if distant authority figure?

Ah, _fucking hell._

"Perhaps it is time that ROOT came out of the shadows," Homura-san said firmly, though not without a small bit of disgust.

"That won't be happening," was the calm reply. "My soldiers could not speak of the truth even if they wanted to."

"Maybe it won't be your _soldiers_ who decide to come clean."

"Don't forget, now," and Kinoto could practically see the sneer that must have been on Danzo's face in that moment, "that if ROOT is discovered, those who helped in its formation will be similarly uncovered. Am I understood?"

"Are you _threatening_ me?" Homura-san said, sounding incredulous at the very thought.

" _Not yet_."

After that, there was only silence. Kinoto stood there with bated breath, until he heard someone heading towards the door. He cursed inwardly, but managed to duck away before the person emerged.

At a loss of what else to do, he stumbled back to his quarters, collapsing onto his bed after shutting the door with shaking hands. Raiden still hadn't awoken, but the time between his departure and his return seemed to have stretched to years.

There was so many things that could be addressed because of that little exchange... But the one that stuck with him the most- _my soldiers could not speak of the truth even if they wanted to_.

Opening his mouth, Kinoto said; "Shimura Danzo is running an underground military force known as ROOT."

Or at least, he tried to. Nothing would come out, and when he tried a second time, he got a splitting headache. After he let out a frustrated groan at the failure, Raiden finally began to stir.

The younger teen looked over, blinking blearily. "H-huh? What's up? Something wrong?"

For a moment, Kinoto almost said it. But one look at Raiden's innocent, if fairly sleepy face, was enough to still his tongue.

"Nothing," Kinoto lied, shifting to stare blankly at the white ceiling. "It's nothing."

/=\

"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered, throwing his arms up in the air out of excitement. "Go Kiba! Kick ass, dog boy!"

Down in the arena, Kiba puffed up in confidence, waving at his childhood friend. "Just watch me, Naruto! I'll be chunin in no time, so you better catch up quick!"

At that, Naruto booed, sending Mitsuki into a fit of laughter from where he was sitting beside him.

"That jerk," Naruto pouted, sitting back down in his seat with a huff. "It's not like I wanted to stay behind! It's all that stupid Sensei's fault, forbidding us from participating this year."

"Now, now, we have to be fair," Mitsuki chided, hiding his grin behind one of his long sleeves. "Obito-sensei was right. We just aren't experienced enough to go for chunin quite yet. We'll be able to join in next year."

"Humph, maybe," Naruto allowed, crossing his arms over his chest. "But then why does Kiba's team get to try? They're even worse than us!"

"Don't lump me in with you two," Sasuke butted in from Mitsuki's other side, a slight scowl twisting his facial expression. "I was fully prepared to take the exams this year. Obito-nii would've let me take it alone if he could."

"Not a chance," Mitsuki said bluntly. "You _can't_ take the exam alone, and our teamwork is shitty. We weren't going to take the exams this year, just face it."

Naruto and Sasuke pulled simultaneous faces, looking away from each other in irritation.

"Maybe if _Sakura_ was still on the team with us..." Sasuke muttered spitefully.

Naruto silently agreed, before seeing the way Mitsuki stiffened at the remark. Then he bristled, realizing how that must have been taken by his more literal-minded teammate.

" _Shut up_ , Teme!" he snapped, standing up so as to glare at Sasuke more effectively. "It's not Mitsuki's fault we're not in the exam. Honestly, it's _our_ fault for not working with him effectively. We worked well with Sakura-chan, but now she's apprenticed to the Old Lady. Our rhythm was kinda thrown off, but we've gotta do this together if we want it to work. Don't pin the blame on him!"

"I-" Sasuke seemed thrown off guard for a moment, genuinely stunned. He regained his composure in a second, standing up as well. "I wasn't blaming anything on Hatake, _dobe!_ I was just saying, that if Sakura was still with us then we wouldn't have had to-"

He cut himself off, eyes widening. He must have realized, belatedly, just what he'd said. Sasuke sat back down, studiously avoiding their gazes. Mitsuki was watching the fight below with a tight expression, yellow eyes tracking the action like it was the last thing he would ever see.

"I _didn't_ mean it like that," Sasuke said quietly. All the anger drained out of him at the soft confession, Naruto slumped back down in his chair.

"I know, Sasuke-san," Mitsuki said stiffly.

The trio sat in uncomfortable silence for awhile, watching as the fights went on below them. Naruto scrambled for something to say, some joke or prank to pull. Luckily, the matter was taken out of his hands.

"Well, what happened to you kiddos? Sudden downpour?"

"Kaa-chan!" Naruto yelped in surprise when his mother appeared behind him, ruffling his hair. "I thought you were sitting up in the Kage box with Tou-san? Why are you _here?_ "

"Don't sound so excited," Kushina rolled her eyes, plopping down in the empty seat next to her son. "Those old farts were being boring, so I decided to come find you. Having a good time?"

"Eh..." he shrugged, uncomfortably aware of his silent teammates watching. "Wish we could've been in the exams, but it's no big deal. We'll join next year, and kick everybody's asses!"

"That's the spirit!" she laughed, throwing a wave of her red hair behind her. "Don't let it get you down, boys. The only reason Kurenai-san's team got to participate was because they begged for it. And Gai's team already waited a year, so they had been promised they could try this time. Once you go out into the field a bit more, take some more difficult missions, _then_ you can join in, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto groaned, slouching in his seat. "We know, Kaa-chan, Sensei already gave us the lecture. It would just be so much more _fun_ if we could do it now."

"Well-" Kushina cut herself off, attention suddenly on the still-ongoing match. "Woah there, looks like Kiba's run into a tight spot!"

"What?" Naruto immediately jumped out of his seat, practically leaning over the railing to try and get a better view.

Kiba was going up against some weird Suna shinobi wearing a hood with cat ears, and he'd been doing okay for the beginning part. But now, the Suna shinobi's puppets were pinning a red-furred and growling Akamaru to the ground with sharp, lethal swords. Naruto winced. Unless some miracle happened, this was definitely the end of the match. There was no way Kiba would put his partner in danger for an _exam_ , of all things.

Naruto had kinda seen this coming, if he was being honest. He'd never say it out loud, as despite popular opinion he did have _some_ tact, but Kiba had already looked like shit before he even got into the arena. The Forest of Death must have taken a lot out of him.

"Does it look like the proctor is going to step in?" Mitsuki said in concern.

"Yeah, he's watching carefully," Sasuke answered distractedly. There was still a tiny bit of worry on his face, despite the confident tone. Sasuke would never be best friends with Kiba, but they _had_ grown up together.

Naruto scanned the arena, searching for the shinobi who was proctoring this event. Shisui had been the overseer for the first test, and Dan-ojisan had taken care of the second one. He half expected it to be another member of his extended family, like Genma or even Aoba, but when he finally caught sight of the jounin, he had _no idea_ who it was.

Which, okay, wasn't _impossible_ , but still.

"Kaa-chan, who the heck is that guy?" He pointed out the pony-tailed shinobi at his mother's inquiring noise.

She studied him for a moment, expression momentarily serious, before it returned to her normal jovial one. "Not a clue!"

Naruto choked a little at the nonchalant tone, and he could hear his teammates sighing behind him. "What the hell, not even a little?"

"Not even the tiniest bit."

"...Huh," Naruto mused, before putting it out of his mind. "Well, who cares! So long as he doesn't let Kiba get killed I don't give a shit anyway."

When the Suna teen had a snarling Kiba pinned down in a headlock, that seemed to be the final straw.

"He's stepping in," Sasuke said, and Naruto knew that he would deny it, but he could hear the smallest amount of relief in his voice.

"Match, end!" the dark-haired jounin called out, jumping down to the two's location to pull them apart. "Sabaku no Kankuro is the winner!"

The crowd all cheered, a tall blonde girl whooping excitedly and a redhead beside her making a giant thumbs up with his sand. If Naruto remembered correctly, they were Sabaku's as well. Siblings, maybe? It was a bit weird for a team to be made out of all the same family members, but it wasn't unheard of.

"Nice try, Kiba!" Naruto called out, cupping his hands around his mouth so that he could be better heard. "Next time, you might even last longer than ten minutes!"

When Kiba flipped him off, Naruto put his worries aside. He was gonna be fine, and Akamaru looked alright too. That was all that really mattered.

"How did the rest of his team do?" Kushina asked, watching the proceedings with curiosity. "I wasn't paying attention in the beginning, since I was busy harassing Yahiko-kun, so I think I missed them."

"Hinata-san won her fight against the Kumo genin quite handily," Mitsuki answered gladly. "There's a decent chance of her being promoted, I believe. She just has to learn to stop hesitating quite so much, as other than that she is an excellent shinobi. Shino-san won his fight against an Uzushio genin without any trouble at all. I definitely think he'll be promoted. He needs to learn to communicate a little better, but it won't be enough to bar him from ranking up."

"Sounds good to me!" Kushina exclaimed, before she tugged Naruto to the side slightly, leaning in.

"Alright, what's really going on?" she asked quietly. "You guys have been all doom and gloom since before I even got here."

Naruto shrugged, not quite sure of the words to accurately describe the situation. "We just... haven't figured out how to work as a real team yet, I guess. Mitsuki's been with us for a few months, but still..."

Kushina studied him for a moment, giving him that piercing stare that all parents and teachers seemed to have, before she sighed and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Just _talk_ to each other," she advised seriously. "So many problems could be cut off if people just gave each other that one small bit of trust. They're your teammates! If you can trust them with your _life_ , you can trust them with your _heart_. Understand?"

"I think so," Naruto replied slowly, brow furrowing in thought.

Kushina smiled warmly, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Good. I'm counting on you, Naruto. Now, I'm going to go make sure that your father hasn't been tricked out of the Hokage hat while I've been gone, so have fun!"

When his mother flounced away, Naruto turned to face his teammates, courage emboldening his actions.

"Hey, Mitsuki," he said seriously, clasping the other genin's shoulder. "You're my friend, and our teammate. Don't forget that, okay? We care about you. Even if your dad _is_ creepy as fuck."

"Hn... Agreed," Sasuke grunted, an almost embarrassed look on his face.

Mitsuki let out a small sound of protest at the dig to Orochimaru, but the tenseness in his body noticeably relaxed. "...Thank you."

This time, when the three of them turned to watch the final exam, it was with a great deal more cheer.

/=\

Kushina strolled through the stands, watching as all the people cheered. It was a nice image, seeing everyone having a good time and all of them generally getting along. She wished she could see it more often.

Soon enough, she was back in the Kage booth. Pretty much everything was exactly how it had been when she'd left; Yagura arguing with his guards and trying to fend off Mei's exaggerated advances, Yahiko simultaneously cheering on his genin and needling Jiraiya with his two companions, and Rasa sitting with his head in his hands.

"Hey," she greeted as she passed by him. "Congrats on the win for your son!"

He only groaned. The Kazekage had been looking like he was steadily growing a migraine the longer he stuck around the loud and boisterous group his fellow Kage made.

The Raikage had wondered off a while ago to try and locate his (once again) wayward brother, and the Iwakage had declined to come. So she didn't feel guilty about not interacting with them, and instead headed straight for her husband.

Minato perked up like a blond puppy at seeing her approach, beaming happily. "Kushina! How's Naruto doing?"

"Oh, fine," she replied, reaching out to intertwine their fingers. But she couldn't let herself be distracted, so she pulled him away to the edge of the booth, away from the other Kages.

"What is it?" Minato asked in a low tone, proving he wasn't quite as silly as she liked to say he was.

"The proctor," she muttered under her breath, subtly gesturing to the shinobi in question. "Who is he?"

Kushina honestly hadn't given it much thought until Naruto brought it up, but she really _didn't_ know who that man was. And that was a problem.

"Shin. He was recommended by Danzo, and I permitted it to keep him complacent," Minato answered, brow furrowing in a way eerily reminiscent of his son. "I will admit, however, to not knowing much about him. I think this is the first time I've ever even seen him. Do you have some concerns?"

Kushina shook her head. This wasn't the place. "No. I won't go so far as to say it's paranoia, but I don't think that it's as serious as I first assumed. We can discuss it later."

Minato nodded, and the two headed back to their seats, hands linked and a strange, uneasy feeling rising up in their chests.


	13. Daffodil

["Daffodil"- _You're the Only One; The Sun is Always Shining When I'm With You_ ]

* * *

Izumi walked through the Uchiha compound steadily, simply concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Their head was still throbbing, and they briefly wondered if they had a concussion.

At that, Izumi laughed bitterly. Would it even matter if they did? No one gave a shit. Izumi was a no name Uchiha and a useless ROOT agent- who would even notice if they kicked it?

Well, maybe their fellow agents would. Yakumo _definitely_ would, at least. She might even cry. Izumi felt guilty for smiling at such a thought, but they couldn't help it. It was nice to know there was _someone_ who would remember you, who would know to mourn you when you were gone.

Even if the rest of the world despised Izumi and cursed their name, Yakumo would still be there. It almost made Izumi feel...

"Izumi!" came the loud shout, and Izumi almost jumped right out of their skin at the fright it gave them. The drew a kunai, whirling around to face their attacker, before abruptly pulling back.

"I've missed you!" Shisui cheered, pulling Izumi into a hug. Itachi, a silent watcher, was standing right behind him.

Izumi let out a deep sigh, returning the embrace. Shisui probably had no idea just how close Izumi had been to skewering him, and they wanted to keep it that way. Shisui was one of the only Uchiha who paid any attention to them even with their extended efforts to drive them all away. It had worked fairly well with the rest of their family, but well… It was lonely, sometimes.

Izumi had missed this, too. And that scared them. They couldn't afford to get attached to anyone- not until their work in ROOT was finally over.

"Yeah, sure," Izumi grouched, wrestling out of the other's grip. "I thought I told you to stop bothering me."

"Oh, come now Izumi!" Shisui pouted, clutching at his chest dramatically. "That's not very nice. I just came over to say hello."

Izumi scoffed, and was about to make a quick exit when something important occurred to them- this was just the chance they'd been waiting for.

"If you're going to force me to interact with you, at least be useful," they said bluntly. "You were a part of the chunin exams last week, right?"

"Yeah, I proctored the first exam," he answered, brow furrowing at the query. "Why, what's up?"

"Who were the other proctors?" Izumi asked impatiently, resisting the urge to tap their foot.

"Uh... Dan-san was the second proctor, and Shin was the third."

"Shin," Izumi seized the line of thought like a lifeline. "I don't recognize the name. What was he like?"

"Oh, he's great!" Shisui beamed, chattering away before Izumi could get a word in edgewise. "Real smart, and a sarcastic little shit if you can pull it out of him. Has a bit of a vicious streak, but he's also totally fair. I guess he usually dyes his hair this dark blue-ish color, and I gotta say that I liked that a little better, the brown just looks way too _plain_ on him-"

"Great, wonderful," Izumi desperately cut in, trying to get to the point sometime this century. "Notice anything unusual about him?"

"Not really," Shisui answered, but he said it so calmly in contrast to his earlier behavior that Izumi couldn't quite believe it. "He kept watching one of the Kiri teams, so I suppose that could be weird. I think he was interested in one of the member's techniques."

"Which one?" Izumi asked, sticking their hands in their pockets and trying valiantly for the casual approach.

"A Hozuki. Don't remember his name, but he could do that special water thing, and Shin was really intrigued by that."

"Hm..." Izumi hummed, eyes narrowing in concentration as they processed this new information. Something must have happened while they were away on missions... Shin must have found out about his heritage somehow. Things were moving quicker than they'd thought it would. "I see."

Shisui blinked rapidly in confusion, smile tightening just slightly. "Why all the interest, cousin?"

Here, Izumi barely managed to resist a smirk. Though his friendly expression hasn't wavered, Shisui's tone of voice was almost a little threatening right now. Hm, that was an unexpected development...

They lost their smug feeling, however, a second later with Shisui's follow up comment.

"What, you got a crush on him or something?" he teased.

Izumi full out gagged. "Ugh, no way! Not a chance in hell."

"Oh, good," Shisui replied, all of that vicious intent tucked away in a split second.

Izumi could only roll their eyes. "You're not very subtle, are you?" they deadpanned, running a hand through their hair with an aggravated huff.

"Eh, what are you talking about?" he tilted his head slightly to the side, seeming genuinely perplexed.

Itachi, standing and observing like the creepy stalker he was, let out an undignified snort at that bit of obliviousness. Shit, if even _Itachi_ could see it, the whole thing must have been more obvious than Izumi suspected.

Shisui scowled, opening his mouth to defend himself, when a nearby yell caught their attention. Shisui grimaced in embarrassment for a moment, before turning to head in.

"Coming, Ma!" he shouted, and then shot around for a quick second to stick his tongue out at Izumi. "I'm watching you."

Despite the laughter that tried its best to bubble up, Izumi's good mood couldn't last for long. This... might be the last time they would ever see any of their clansmen again. To end on a note like this seemed appropriate, if bittersweet.

When Shisui was finally out of earshot, Izumi took a deep breath and turned to Itachi, something like regret curling in their stomach. If this was how it was going to end, they had something they needed to say first.

/=\

"You were right," Izumi said, face still blank.

Itachi raised a brow in silent question. That was quite unlike Izumi- they hated to admit when they'd made a mistake.

"When we were children, you said that I was weak. That I would never be able to protect anyone, the way that I was. You were right."

With that, Izumi abruptly pulled away, practically sprinting out of the gate and into the recesses of the village. Itachi didn't follow. He couldn't.

Because Izumi's expression in that moment... There'd been something so jagged there, so _tormented_. But he couldn't follow, because he knew that he couldn't help. Not the way that Izumi needed. The thought ached a bit, somewhere deep inside him, but it was true.

Itachi stood in place for a moment, fidgeting slightly. Izumi was his childhood friend- he wanted to do _something_. Eventually, he just sighed and continued to head back to his apartment.

What could he even do, anyway? It was best not to get involved.

Besides, Izumi had been the one to pull away from them in the first place. He was really only doing what they wanted by staying separate. Shisui could complain and whine all he wanted, but Itachi wasn't going to go out of his way for someone who didn't even seem to enjoy his presence.

Even if that person had once been his (only) friend.

/=\

It felt like it had been years since his return from the mission that had revealed Sai's heritage, but in reality it had only been a month at most.

There were plenty of explanations behind the feeling of time dragging on, but the most prominent one was also causing Raiden the most distress.

Kinoto.

Now, normally his partner was a source of joy, even as grumpy as he tended to act. Raiden loved him, loved what he represented- the unwavering loyalty of a proud ROOT agent, just like Raiden himself.

( _as much as someone like you can love_ )

The whisper seemed to rattle around in his skull, and Raiden fell to the floor of the training ground with a pained hiss. The voice was back. It hurt, even if it was faint and largely unintelligible. It had been ruining his concentration during training, and even during the few missions he had been able to take with Kinoto avoiding him.

Oh, yeah. _That's_ what he had been complaining about before. Raiden clambered back onto his feet with a scowl, any thoughts of mysterious voices drifting away with no resistance.

Ever since Kinoto had recovered from his wounds, he'd been taking mission after mission- all solo, so Raiden wasn't allowed to go with him. And he just _knew_ that Kinoto was doing that on purpose. He was always the one complaining about the two of them never doing anything together, and now that they had time, he was taking every opportunity he could to get away!

Raiden punched the ground angrily, and immediately cursed in pain. Alright, not one of his better ideas.

"Something wrong?"

He spun around, flushing in embarrassment when he saw who it was.

"Senpai!" he exclaimed, scrambling for an excuse. "I was just- uh, I mean-"

With a small, almost amused smile, they came into the training room and sat down beside him. "Go ahead. You can tell me. I won't make fun of you for it, even if it's something really dumb."

"Hey, nothing I do is dumb!" Raiden protested. Senpai merely looked at his injured hand, and then raised a single brow in silent judgement. "...Okay, you got me there."

He scratched the back of his head, trying to think of where to start. Was he supposed to just start with the bullshit Kinoto was trying to pull? Did he mention the anger, the hypocrisy, (the loneliness) or was he even supposed to mention any emotions at all? Was there any protocols in place for a situation like this?

"Let me guess, Kinoto?" Senpai drawled. "And don't ask how I know. It's written all over your face."

"Really?" Raiden asked, poking his cheek in uncertainty.

"Yeah, you always get that depressed look when something's happened between the two of you," they explained, something very close to teasing in their voice. "Like a kid with their favorite toy taken away."

"I don't think of him that way," he rejected, frowning at the implication. Kinoto was his _partner_ , no matter how much a jerk he was being.

Senpai rolled their eyes. "It's a _saying_. But, in all seriousness... You two have got a good thing going. Whatever's gotten your panties all tied up in a knot isn't worth your partnership."

Raiden nodded, biting his lip. He pulled at a loose string on his shirt, somehow unable to meet his Senpai's eyes.

"Believe me," they added, a certain bitterness caring their words, "nothing lasts forever. All the people that you have right now are going to end up leaving you, one way or another. So cherish them now, while you still can. Alright?"

"Yeah," Raiden whispered. After a long moment of silence, he nudged Senpai's shoulder. "Hey... thanks, Senpai."

"Brat," they retorted. It was undeniably fond.

/=\

"There you are!" Raiden shouted, pointing at Kinoto dramatically. "Don't move!"

The older male froze in place for a split second, before relaxing at seeing who was yelling at him.

"Fuck, don't do that," he growled, moodily dumping his gear on the floor of their quarters. "I coulda had a kunai through your eye if I wasn't careful."

Raiden huffed, sweeping all that aside as he boldly stepped forward. Kinoto wasn't going to escape this time. He'd been trying to catch the other operative ever since that talk with Senpai- which had been _six days ago_. Almost a full week!

Well, not this time. He was just gonna lay it straight.

"You've been avoiding me, and I don't like it," he said bluntly, crossing his arms. "So, stop."

Kinoto scowled, hand tightening around the hilt of his sword. "Y'know, surprisingly enough, the world doesn't just revolve around _you_."

"I know, it's a tragedy," Raiden said flippantly, trying to hide just how much that little dig had actually hurt him.

"This whole goddamn _thing_ is a tragedy," he spit out, clenching his fists.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raiden said bewilderedly, taking a slight step back in alarm. Was he saying that their _partnership_ was a-

"Like you even give a shit!" Kinoto raged, punching the wall in his anger. "Just- just shut up and go the fuck-"

That was it. He couldn't help it anymore. He snapped.

"I just don't want you to leave me!" Raiden finally screamed, desperation lining every edge of his features as his mind flashed back to forgotten times and hazy memories.

( _please, **please**. i just don't want to be alone-_ )

The two stood there, the only sound in the room being the raggedness of their breath. Raiden dared a look, eyes glistening with unshed tears, and his partner was the first one to break.

Kinoto's expression crumpled. "I-I'm sorry. Things are just... _complicated_ right now. I don't want to drag you into it."

"Oh, cmon," Raiden teased, though he couldn't hide the slight tremors wracking his body. "We're partners, remember? It's our jobs to drag each other into stupid shit."

The laugh that Kinoto gave in return to that was awkward and uneasy, but Raiden didn't care. Just so long as he _stayed_ , Raiden would forgive anything.


	14. Coreopsis

["Coreopsis"- _Always Cheerful_ ]

* * *

"Oh, hello Raiden," Yakumo said tiredly. But still, even exhausted as she was, she couldn't resist a smile at seeing him. It had been a long time. "You've gotten even taller I see."

"Puberty," he smirked. "Does some real wonders. Or it did for me, at least."

She rolled her eyes, trying to suppress her amusement. Even when he was younger, she had known better than to encourage him. Raiden was exactly the type of person to only get more incorrigible if you gave him attention.

But still, she did have to give him that one. It'd been almost five years since the last time Yakumo had been able to really interact with him for any period of time- they were both kept so busy by the commanders, with Yakumo constantly trying to outsmart the cryptography department and Raiden almost always out of the country.

He had changed, that's for sure. He was taller than her now, which was a bit of a strange development. It had been inevitable, of course, but still. Raiden was just as wiry as ever, though his muscles were much more evenly proportioned now. He looked more like a real shinobi, and less like a child soldier.

Which... was good, right? Somehow, Yakumo thought that sounded a bit weird.

"How long has it been?" she wondered aloud. "You were out around Suna, right?"

"Yep, five years," he grimaced, and Yakumo winced in sympathy. "Kin and I were there for a great deal of it, but we were also jumping back and forth between that sandy wasteland and fucking _Ame_. The travel time was hell. _God_ , some of the worst months in my life, let me tell you."

"Oh, I bet," she replied. "Is it as shitty as we always suspected?"

" _Worse_ ," he said flatly. "Everybody's so damn paranoid, even with legit papers they were always watching us like a hawk."

"But... nothing happened, right? To either of you?" Yakumo frowned, biting her lip in worry. She had never been that close with Kinoto, but she _did_ care about him.

"Nah, we're just fine," Raiden shook his head, a small smile on his face. "Had some close calls, but we weren't discovered."

 _Of course,_ Yakumo thought to herself, flushing slightly in embarrassment. Raiden wouldn't be bothering to stand around and talk with her if something had happened to his partner. _Of course._

"But, forget us," Raiden said, waving his hand dismissively. "Are you still working in cryptography?"

"Ah... yes," she tried to smile, but the only thing that came out was a pained grimace. The reaction that got, however, was a huge surprise.

"That's _bullshit_ ," he snarled, clenching his fists.

Yakumo pulled back a little, genuinely startled by the vehemence in his expression. They'd never been that _friendly_.

"O-oh?" she tried to sound polite, but it came out vaguely fearful instead. Yakumo twisted a piece of her long, brown hair in nervousness, wondering if it was too late to make a run for it.

"It's not fair to do that to you," Raiden said seriously, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. "You are _not_ an undercover agent. Just like me and Kinoto aren't sabotage agents. But we were willing to go on this 'training trip' and do missions when required- because we would be _together_. There would always be an out if we needed it. Counting all the time we've been gone, you've been working in that department for over _ten years_. That's complete bullshit! That _should not have happened._ "

Yakumo could only stand there in shock. _What the fuck was happening?_ Raiden, bless his sociopathic little soul, had never given a shit about any of this before!

"You've changed," the words came out almost accusative, and Yakumo wished she could pluck them out of the air. She hated working in cryptography, true, but it wasn't her place to question orders. This was all she was good for, so why did it matter?

Raiden smiled, a little sadly. "I'm twenty years old now, y'know. I couldn't have stayed the same forever."

"But not like this," Yakumo could hear her voice shaking, and she hated herself for it. God, why was she so _weak?_ "Do you- are you even loyal to ROOT? All those things you're saying- it's, it's-"

 _Treason_ , her mind whispered grimly. She hated ROOT, she hated it so much, but she would always be too afraid to do anything about it. If even Raiden, the most fervent and worshipping of all agents, had lost his respect for the organization, just what was she supposed to do?

Luckily, or perhaps not, his expression immediately reflects his shock at that statement.

"What, no!" Raiden squawked. "Danzo-sama will _always_ have my loyalty, you don't have to worry about that. But there is something going on here."

 _I didn't ask about Danzo. I asked about **ROOT**._

Yakumo almost said it, those spite-filled words nearly slipping free of her lips, but she caught them just in time. Not now. She was too tired.

And she really was, too. It felt like the weight of the whole world had come crashing down on her shoulders, and it was all she could do to survive under the strain.

"Alright," she murmured. "Alright... Let's just drop it. I am glad the two of you are back."

Raiden gave her a suspicious stare, and she would have burst out laughing if she had the energy. Now, that was the Raiden that she knew.

"I have to get going," Yakumo pulled away, not even trying to subtly excuse herself. "Work is going to start in half an hour, so I can't really afford to linger any longer."

"Of course, my bad," Raiden relaxed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. His white shock of hair had grown out some, and Yakumo adamantly refused to let herself make any comparisons of who he had begun to look similar to. "Hey, just remember- now that Kin and I are back for good, we'll be around to take some of the attention off you. If I get a chance, I'll bring it up to Danzo-sama. There's no way he intended to have you undercover for so long- Tonbo is one things, since infiltration is something he's actually trained in, but not you. He'll change it, I promise."

"M-hm," Yakumo hummed in reply, not making a definite response. She wasn't going to go any further into that.

She just turned and walked away.

/=\

He strolled through the large, cluttered room, amusement rising at the sight of so many people all scurrying back and forth. One girl, blonde with round glasses perched precariously on her nose, rushed by carrying a stack of paper taller than she was.

"N-Nara-san!"

Shikaku turned, waiting patiently as the department head approached him.

"Ah, Minazuki-san," he nodded in greeting, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you as well, sir," the other man replied, smiling warmly.

"Pretty lively around here, huh?" Shikaku quipped, smirking when Minazuki groaned. The jounin quickly glanced around, noticing all the chaos going on. At that, he gave a nervous laugh.

"Well, I'd say that it isn't normally like this... but that would be a lie."

"Oh, I know," Shikaku teased. "I may not come by too often, but I've heard the stories. Ensui-kun is always more than happy to complain."

The two shared a laugh, just imagining the other Nara grumbling about the noise and energy of his workplace.

Minazuki began to head into the next room, and Shikaku fell in step beside him. The two weren't especially close, but they had worked missions together and were both friendly people. Sometimes, that was enough.

Shikaku dropped the jokes, however, when Minazuki began to speak softly of the issues the department had been having. Missing flies, damaged documents. An increase in 'accidents' involving cabinets involving important information.

"I have to be honest here," Minazuki sighed, running a hand roughly through his hair and almost dislodging his ponytail in the process. "We fucked up. I genuinely thought it was an accident at first- as you can see, things aren't exactly neat and tidy around here in the first place. But I got suspicious and dug a little deeper into it, and this has been going on for _years_. I don't know exactly when it started, but I know that it has to end."

"Of course," Shikaku said firmly. "Do you have any suggestions of where to start? Do you have any idea how many infiltrators there are?"

"Not many, if my guess is right," he replied, practically whispering. They were still in plain sight of the other shinobi, walking through the halls.

Shikaku subtly eyed the others they were passing by, wondering which was the spy. There, an older male with graying hair, frowning at the document in his hand. A chunin with bright green hair, greedily guzzling down what looked like a pint of coffee. A woman, brown hair falling down to her waist and deep bags under her eyes, took one look at the two superior officers coming her way and blanched, escaping into the next room. Minazuki kept talking, face set in regret at the situation that had damaged his trust in his fellow shinobi.

"I just need this fixed," he said tiredly, scrubbing at his face. "Cryptography is _not_ the department to have an enemy spy in, and for _so long_ -"

"Don't worry," Shikaku said confidently, standing up just that little bit straighter. "I know a guy."

And he already had a suspect, too.

/=\

"It's a private militia," Minato said, busying himself with his paperwork in order to avoid Shikaku's piercing gaze. He didn't regret making the older man the head of the intelligence division, but he did sometimes regret doing that while unprepared for the amount of pressure it was to ask for advice from such an incredibly intelligent man.

"For one of the elders," Shikaku surmised, sounding bitter, and unsurprised. "Danzo, I'm guessing? That old warhawk. He never could just mind his own damn business."

Minato kept silent, allowing Shikaku to work through his thoughts.

"And it's legal, or at least _just_ legal enough to fall under the radar," he concluded. Minato chanced a glance up, and Shikaku's brow was furrowed in frustration.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," he sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Kushina brought it to my attention several years ago, during the chunin exams, but we weren't able to dig too far into it. Danzo caught wind real quick, and the other elders helped him to cut us off at the pass. Not to mention soon after that, all that trouble in Suna and Ame started popping up again. I couldn't afford to waste time on something that was technically within the bounds of the law."

When he finished his little rant, Minato looked up to see a look on the other's face that he hadn't been subject to in a long time, not since the war.

"And what would you do," Shikaku said, expression shading towards predatory, "if I said that I could find _proof_ of illegal activity?"

Minato was already grinning before the sentence was even concluded, scolding himself for underestimating the Nara.

"Tell me _everything_."


	15. Nasturtium

["Nasturtium"- _Conquest; Victory in Battle_ ]

* * *

Yota sighed, a small storm cloud forming above his head. Man, things had been so _not_ fun recently. Everyone in ROOT was acting all twitchy and paranoid (even more than usual), and although Yota didn't interact with the villagers much, the agents that _did_ had been reporting a strange lull in activity.

Of course, that wasn't so strange. With no major events going on, and no major conflicts, it wouldn't be surprising to have a couple of slow weeks. But still, something was off.

It felt like the moment before a lightning storm, when the air was charged and it seemed like even breathing too hard would be enough to set everything off.

He snuggled further into the small alcove he was hiding in, shutting his eyes with a small groan. His head was pounding, and Yota knew he wasn't the only one. Everyone else seemed to be wincing in synchronized agony, some pausing in their travels to clutch their heads in pain.

Still, it never kept anyone down for long. They couldn't afford to let pain stop them- something big was happening, and no one wanted to be caught off guard. Every single ROOT agent had been recalled, even the ones in deep undercover. The Mountain Base had never felt so crowded, fit to burst with all the agents scurrying around.

Yota breathed deeply, trying to reign in his Kekkai Genkai. The ability to manipulate the weather and create localized storms was fun when you were out wreaking havoc, but when you were trapped underground with a bunch of jumpy, trigger-happy people equipped with swords, it lost a great deal of its appeal. It was all he could do to just keep the energy under control.

The clouds above his head slowly vanished into mist, disappearing after a few more moments of concentration. Yota opened his eyes and glanced out into the open room below his perch, watching the agents all milling about. He could practically taste the nervous energy. While people-watching was fun, he quickly lost interest when all they continued to do was murmur amongst themselves disconcertingly.

He hopped down, landing on the stone floor without even raising any dust. Yota wandered through the halls, briefly considering going to see Yūto, before dismissing it. He had been gone so long, always out of the country working on one thing or another... Their relationship had changed. It wasn't like when they were younger, and had no one to depend on but each other.

Yota hated to admit it, really, but they didn't _need_ each other anymore. The thought hurt, held a vice grip on his heart, but he couldn't deny it. Yūto had become withdrawn, obsessing over his secrets and hoarding information. Yota didn't want anything to do with that. He just wanted to do his job and keep his head down.

Other agents didn't take him seriously, even with his massive amount of power, and it was really his own fault. His jovial bearing turned off his more serious comrades, and they deemed him unworthy to carry ROOT's name.

The only ones who didn't, who seemed to genuinely like him even with his (admittedly annoying) attitude, were-

"Hey, there you are!" Raiden called out, grinning.

Yota slowed, stopping next to the two younger agents. "Rai, Kin! What's up?"

"Don't call me that," Kinoto grimaced, and Yota gave an exaggerated pout in response.

"What? But little Raiden gets to call you that!"

"That's _different_ ," he grumbled, shoulders hunching defensively.

Yota only laughed, waving the protest off. "Hey man, I get it. No worries. Anyways, did you two need something?"

"Well, not exactly," Raiden shrugged, eyes flicking over all the ROOT agents gathered around. "But do you have any idea what's going on? We were set to leave on an assignment when we got the notice to come back. And what the hell is going on with these migraines? It seems like everybody in the damn compound has one!"

Yota could only shake his head. "I have no clue. But whatever it is, it's _big_."

He noticed Kinoto shift uncomfortably, and assumed he must have been getting a major pain spike from the headaches. Yota took pity on him, clasping his shoulder.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. Commander Kawauso said that he was gonna get to the bottom of it."

Raiden nodded, relaxing instantly. Off-putting and weird as the man was, Commander Kawauso was fair, and he always kept his word.

"Of course," Raiden let out a bit of a sheepish laugh, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Danzo-sama will explain everything. I guess I'm just a little paranoid."

A _little_ was a severe understatement, Yota thought wryly. He reached out, pulling the two into an awkward group hug.

"Man, I missed you guys. I'm glad that everything is starting to get back to normal."

That was when the screaming started.

/=\

Fū snarled, barely managing to dodge a stream of fire aimed for his head.

It was complete and utter _chaos_. The ROOT agents were scattered, being forced to retreat at every turn. The commanders had all disappeared, and Danzo was nowhere to be seen- they had no orders. And what were they supposed to do against Konoha shinobi? They had always been told to cooperate with their village counterparts as long as it did not impede ROOT's mission, but they had never expected the fight to be brought to _them_.

Fū leapt backwards, avoiding an Uchiha's sword by the narrowest of margins. He was in deep shit. The base was overrun with enemies, and they had nowhere to go.

He pressed up against the wall, taking a moment to catch his breath. His orange hair, pulled free from its standard ponytail in the rush, tumbled down around his neck and stuck uncomfortably to the cut on his cheek. It was bleeding sluggishly, but it felt like he'd lost a bucket of blood already. Of course, this _damn migraine_ didn't help at all!

Catching sight of the dull glint of a kunai out of the corner of his eye, Fū dodged with a curse, his hiding spot discovered. Fuck, what was he even supposed to _do?_ He couldn't see Torune anywhere, or hear the buzz of his insects, so none of their usual combos would be applicable.

The agents that he could see fighting back were doing so rather poorly, inhibited by the blinding pain building in their heads. A particularly powerful jolt made Fū stumble, crying out in pain. His vision blurry, he began to slump to the side when a strong grip latched onto him before he could fall.

"It's alright," the person soothed, "I've got you."

He wrenched himself out of their grip, panting harshly. " _Don't touch me!_ "

Looking up, he saw the person's face- a Yamanaka. The blonde hair and pupil-less eyes were unmistakable. She didn't move, watching him carefully, but she kept a firm grip on her kunai.

"I'll knock you out," she warned. "I don't want to, but I will."

"What do you care?" Fū sneered, unimpressed by her attempt at mercy. "Right now we're enemies, aren't we?"

For some reason, that just made her look incredibly sad.

"Yeah, for right now. It shouldn't be that way, but it is." Sighing, she sat down next to him on the floor, tucking her knees into her chest.

Fū eyed her in disbelief, struggling to sit up against the waves of pain crippling him. What the hell was she _doing?_ Did she not notice the _warzone_ all around her?

"I'm Ino, by the way," she added, tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear. "Yamanaka Ino. I only became a jounin recently, and I've gotta say that _this_ wasn't what I expected my first big mission to be like."

He snorted, starting to relax against his will. "I don't think anyone was expecting this. _We_ sure as hell weren't."

They fell into silence, unsure of what to say. Around them, the battle raged on, and Fū began to itch in anticipation, wishing he had the strength to re-enter the fight. Ino must have sensed it, because she gave him a warning look.

"Don't even think about it," she said, brandishing her kunai threateningly. "We were told to do the least amount of damage possible, but that doesn't mean _no_ damage."

"Clearly," Fū said dryly, indicating to the Inuzuka a little bit off who was gleefully sending his ninken on a rampage.

"...It won't be long now," Ino said softly. Something in him was pleased to see that her expression was firm and determined, not sympathetic. Fū couldn't stand pity. Then her words finally registered in him.

"Wait, until _wha_ -"

A huge boom echoed in the cavern, and the unmistakable laugh of Jiraiya the Sannin drifted through the air.

"SHOWTIME, EVERYBODY!"

Fū leapt to his feet, ignoring the pain as he tried to see what the man was holding. Jiraiya was unraveling a scroll, the symbols lighting up one by one. Behind him stood Orochimaru and Hatake Sakumo, holding-

"Danzo-sama." The hoarse whisper ripped free from his throat, not able to believe his eyes. The elder was being held captive, scowling darkly with his hands in shackles and a slight limp betraying his wounds. " _How...?_ "

"He's getting exactly what he deserves," Ino growled, turning to stare at him intensely, face shadowed by the darkness of the cave. "And so will the rest of you."

"Well," Fū said faintly, beginning to feel a bit lightheaded. "That's... reassuring..."

His world been spinning, and all he heard a panicked voice call out his name.

Someone caught him before he hit the ground, and he was enveloped with the familiar sight of his partner's coat.

"Fū! Not _now_ -"

/=\

Sai heard the Sannin shout, and he was only able to turn halfway before a burst of sudden pain brought him to his knees. He cried out, his head pounding in unbelievable agony.

All around him, ROOT agents let out a cacophony of screams, the sounds echoing against the cave. He couldn't even hear himself think- the pain was deafening.

And just as quickly, it stopped. Sai hesitatingly looked up, wondering if it was really over. All the ROOT agents were on the ground in varying degrees of disarray, each of them moaning in pain. The invading Shinobi were rounding everyone up, herding them into the largest room in the base– the meeting room. Standing at the podium, in place of the usual speaker, was none other than the Hokage; Namikaze Minato.

Sai didn't know what to feel. This was supposed to be his _superior_ , yet at the same time they had attacked his comrades and barged into his home. Konohagakure had done _nothing_ in itself to earn his loyalty.

"Sir!" one shinobi yelled, panting as they entered the room. "I've found the personnel records!"

"Good work," Namikaze nodded, taking the stack of papers and setting them down on the podium. It was thinner than Sai had expected, but that was likely because it was just their basic profiles. No medical records were included in that, so naturally it would be smaller.

"Now, listen up," the Hokage addressed the crowd, his earlier serious expression melting away to let him stare at them earnestly. "When your name is called, stand up and head over to the group you're assigned. We want this to be over quick, so be prepared to get moving!" He looked over the unwilling audience, seeming to expect some sort of reaction.

Sai simply stayed in his kneeling position with the rest of the agents, not speaking. The whole thing felt like some strange parody of their usual meetings- but instead of a ROOT agent droning on, it was the leader of the village; a person who might have been described as their enemy, depending on who you asked. And unlike the normal meetings, every single person there was paying rapt attention.

Namikaze gave a nervous sort of smile, looking a little unnerved at their silent, blank faces. Deep in his chest, Sai felt a bit of vicious pleasure in that.

"Alright, then... Let's start! First up, is-"

Sai ignored what the man was saying, shutting his eyes and just concentrating on breathing. What was going to happen to them? Why were they being attacked in the first place? He was just doing his duty, as any Konoha Shinobi would.

Obviously, these people didn't see it that way.

When Shin's name was called, Sai looked up, startled.

"Hozuki Shin, group 3!" Namikaze said, not even having to yell with how quiet the hall was.

 _So, he was right_ , Sai mused. Shin had deep suspicions of his heritage, but he hadn't been entirely certain. The hydrification technique was a big clue, but still... In a life like theirs, one could never be too certain.

"Uzumaki Honoka, group 3! Uchiha Izumi, group 3! Aburame Torune, group 3! Kurama Yakumo, group 3!"

Sai back slightly, eyes narrowing in suspicion. He hadn't been paying much attention to the other groups, but why were all of his typical companions going into the same group? ...Perhaps it was just a coincidence?

 _No_. There was no such thing as a coincidence.

"Sarutobi Kinoto, group 3! Nara Tsuchinoto, group 3!"

Sai watched, silently waiting for his own assignment, as Namikaze paused. When he went to read off the next name, he sounded almost... _angry_.

"Is there a... 01604 here?"

Silently, Raiden stood up. He was only a little bit away from where Sai was kneeling, and thankfully had his hood up and covering his hair. Sai watched warily, wondering what his hot-headed comrade would do in this delicate situation.

"What's your name?" Namikaze said, peering down at him.

"...Raiden."

Namikaze smiled. Sai was startled by what a nice smile it was.

"Well Raiden, you're in group three. Right over there."

Surprisingly, Raiden went without protest. But Sai didn't let his guard down- he knew that the compliance only meant that he was scheming something vicious.

"Now, moving on. Otenki Yota, group 3! Rinha Yūto, group 3! Yamanaka Fū, group 3! Hyuga Tonbo, group 3!"

No one moved. Sai could see Tonbo in the crowd, but the man was standing stock-still. Sai couldn't blame him.

Since _when_ was Tonbo a Hyuga? Honestly, that was more surprising than the revelation of his own heritage.

"Hyuga-kun, please go to your group," Namikaze said sternly.

Tonbo shook his head, expression clear in its disbelief, but for once he kept his mouth shut. He staggered over to the others in a daze, and they surrounded him instantly. Sai could see Raiden saying something, gripping Tonbo's shoulder, but it was too far away to make out. Their guards, a pair of shinobi named Gekkō Hayate and Uzuki Yūgao if he remembered correctly, were watching over them carefully, though they at least had the decency to pretend that they weren't eavesdropping.

There was another guard there as well, but Sai couldn't quite make them out...

"Uchiha Sai, group 3!"

Sai snapped out of it and stood up, walking towards his companions with relief rising up in his chest. For a moment, he'd been afraid that he wouldn't get put with them. That would have been... unfavorable.

When he arrived, he finally noticed the other guard.

"Kawauso-san?" Sai said lowly, trying not to interrupt the announcements. He took one look at the commander's sheepish face, and everything seemed to click into place. "Ah, so you were in on this."

"C'mon, you don't need to make it sound so incriminating, Sai-kun!" he laughed nervously, but his face quickly fell back to its previous wooden expression. "And it's not gonna be Kawauso anymore, so you might as well call me by my name- Tenzō. Nice to officially meet you."

Sai didn't reply- he wasn't sure how. He just shook his head and joined the others. Kawauso- Tenzō- _whoever_ he was, didn't try and stop him, at least. Sai stuck close to the group, carefully not reacting when Shin briefly tangled their hands together in comfort. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he knew that he wanted to be with his family when it did.

* * *

 **Notes** :

You have no idea how hard it was for me to not call this chapter "ROOT GETS UPROOTED", but I stuck with it. I have a theme going, damn it!

Oh wow, chapter fifteen! Actually hard to believe that I've gotten this far, folks. Here's where the action really starts, and I am PUMPED. This has been a fun, kinda experimental fic to write, and I'm glad people have been enjoying it. Raiden and his pals are not the sorts of characters I usually write, so this has been a bit of struggle in some parts, but I've been enjoying it! But I do know that the timeline can seem pretty wonky at points, so you can definitely ask if you're confused!

And HEY! If you're too shy to ask questions on here, you can hop on over to my tumblr, under mm-mendell. Always feel free to talk to me, I promise I'm interested in what you have to say! I could talk about my stories for days, seriously.


	16. White Lilly

["White Lilly"- _Purity; Majesty; It's Heavenly to Be With You_ ]

* * *

Honoka resolutely stared ahead, not letting herself be affected by the whispering. It was still early in the evening, and people were milling about in the village streets- which made it all the worse to be paraded through like prisoners of war.

Though that might have been true. They were definitely prisoners, at the very least.

Next to her, Tsuchi had a grim expression on his face, and the bags under his eyes were enough to make her wince in sympathy. Her partner was obsessive and paranoid on a good day, and today had _not_ been a good day. She could just sense his thoughts flying, fixating on his mistakes and what he could have done to prevent this. Honoka wished that they were somewhere more private- she couldn't bring herself to speak in front of all these people.

Well, _speak_ wasn't quite the right word for it. Honoka communicated using a mixture of ANBU sign and her own personalized variant. While her teammates could understand her perfectly and Tsuchi was able to sign back, it still made her self-conscious.

But right now, her partner needed her. None of this was his fault, he couldn't have predicted this. And honestly... it was bound to happen eventually. ROOT was a ticking time bomb, and it always had been. It had only been Danzo's efforts to keep the attention focused on Konoha's allies that let it survive this long, and _that_ had really come back to bite him, hadn't it?

Honoka bit her lip, letting her thick red hair fall in front of her face to hide her expression. What could she even say? This whole situation was a nightmare, and nothing she said would change that.

"Honoka..." Tsuchi whispered, reaching to grab her hand. "What's going to happen to us?"

Even if she'd been able to speak, she wouldn't have had an answer. All she could do was intertwine their fingers and give her partner the small comforts she could. All around them, her comrades were shaking, nervous and afraid. Surrounded by shinobi on all sides, they could do nothing but follow along obediently. It wasn't something that they were entirely unfamiliar with, but this was certainly a new form of it. And it had never before been so public.

Any sense of calm she might have possessed immediately disappeared when she realized where they were headed. Honoka felt her breath quicken, hands beginning to shake. The infamous T&I- it seemed far more intimidating right now, bathed in the eerie light of dusk.

The purple-haired Kunoichi striding along next to her must have noticed her distress, because she jolted a little bit, as if considering whether or not to reach out- whether in comfort or to make her shut up, Honoka wasn't sure. But the problem was solved easily, as Tsuchi (sharp-eyed as ever) quickly swapped places with her. Now with her partner on one side and Yakumo on the other, she found herself calming down.

They could torture her all they wanted- she wouldn't betray her comrades. Hopefully, they wouldn't even try.

/=\

Kinoto tapped his fingers along his thigh, wishing he still had his tanto. All of their weapons had been taken away, of course, but he still longed for the comfort it provided.

As their group entered the building he glanced around, curious despite himself. He had never been in T&I before- he'd never had a reason to, thankfully. None of them had, except for-

His eyes widened, head whipping around to try and find his teammate.

Tonbo's face was still blank, just as it had been ever since his heritage was revealed. Yakumo was hovering by his side, frowning nervously, but there was no reaction. Kinoto couldn't blame him. He'd had no idea that Tonbo was a Hyuga- there had never been even the slightest clue. Tonbo was _blind_... Wasn't he?

Kinoto shook his head, dismissing the thought. It didn't matter. What mattered was how Tonbo was reacting. To be honest, Kinoto wasn't very fond of Tonbo. He didn't like the man's cavalier attitude, and the cruel edge to his smile. Tonbo was just as vicious as Raiden, but Kinoto could excuse his partner- he didn't do it out of malicious intent. Tonbo definitely did. But still...

He tapped Raiden's elbow lightly, letting him know that he was moving. Raiden nodded in acknowledged, so Kinoto subtly drifted to the right, straying by Tonbo's side. The bandaged man still didn't say anything, to his concern.

However, Tonbo stiffened immediately when the group entered the building.

 _Damn it,_ Kinoto thought bitterly, wishing there was something he could do. But Tonbo seemed to be handling it just fine.

Even as the members of T&I- his _coworkers_ , all emerged to watch them troop down the stairs, staring at their group like they were a circus sideshow, Tonbo didn't do anything. He stayed smooth and almost relaxed, his walk steady.

How often had Tonbo been down here? Kinoto wondered. How many times had he lead a prisoner down to the cells? To be on the other side of it...

"Alright, we're here," Gekkō-san said, bringing them to a stop. "You will each be assigned a cell and will be called into the interrogation room one at a time. For now, you will not be wearing any handcuffs or chakra suppression seals, but if you show any aggressive behavior, that _will_ change."

Kinoto remained silent, even as he clenched his fists. They were being treated like criminals! And sure, he understood the reasoning behind it, but the thought still burned. Everything he had done, _everything_ he had sacrificed had been for this village!

He stewed on his anger, resentment curling in his gut as he was escorted to his cell. He tried not to let his thoughts reflect on his face, but he got the feeling the Kunoichi guarding him could tell regardless.

Kinoto sat heavily on the metal bench provided, feeling like he'd been standing for an eternity. When he glanced outside the small window provided on the steel door, he was happy to note that Raiden had been placed across from him. One less thing to worry about, at least.

Torune walked by with two shinobi following, heading into the interrogation room. Kinoto couldn't see much from here, but he wholeheartedly wished his teammate luck.

/=\

He jolted awake a couple of hours later when his door opened with a loud clang. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he shakily stood up.

His silent guard, a shinobi he vaguely recalled Tonbo telling him about (Raidō, maybe?), patiently waited for him to get moving. Kinoto walked without protest, dread rising up to claw at the back of his throat. He wasn't prepared for this. His job was supposed to be retrievals- in and out, quick escapes only! Not assassination, not sabotage, not resisting torture, not _any_ of this bullshit Danzo was making him do.

 _Fucking hell..._

By the time he entered the cold room, his nerves had skyrocketed. And it definitely wasn't made any better by the people waiting inside.

All three of the Sannin, Nara Shikaku (by far one of the most intelligent men in the country), the head of the T&I department- his name was something like Ibiki, and the fucking _Hokage_.

 _Shit._

He sat down across from them, wishing he could pitch himself out of the window instead. Crossing his arms, he stared them down and ignored his internal screaming. He was _not_ going to let them intimidate him. If he could fight against enemy shinobi from across the world, obey the orders of a senile old bastard, _and_ deal with having Raiden as a partner, there was no way these guys could do worse.

"Now, I'm sure you know why you're here," Namikaze began, an unusually stern look on his face. "Your work in ROOT has been deemed illegal, and we need you to tell us more on its operations. Understand, this is not a choice. If you are a true shinobi of Konohagakure, you will cooperate in any way you can."

Kinoto gritted his teeth, but nodded without any comment. With whatever kind of messed-up control Danzo had on him and the other agents, he probably wouldn't be able to say anything important anyways.

But the second the Sannin stood up and started to walk towards him, Kinoto rose half-out of his seat, prepared to defend himself if need be. He knew he would get knocked the fuck out before he could even make it to the door, but it was nice to dream.

Jiraiya held up his hands in surrender, cracking a big grin. "Hey there kid, no need to get all jumpy. Me 'n Orochimaru are here to just get rid of that seal on you, and Hime's here to make sure you aren't hiding some broken ribs or anything like that."

There was a lot of things Kinoto could have said to that, but he just sank back into his seat, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"So it's a seal," he murmured, more to himself than anything. "I had wondered..."

"Oh, so you did know!" Namikaze beamed, harsh expression from before completely gone. "Most of the others didn't. Well, that will make this easier I suppose!"

"Stick out your tongue," Orochimaru said briskly, his tone of voice suggesting that he had much better things to be doing.

Kinoto obeyed, despite his confusion. It was pretty weird, having such powerful and influential people leaning over him and trying to get a good look in his mouth, but he had honestly been through weirder days.

"Yup, just like all the others," Jiraiya mused, stroking his chin with a look of concentration. "Should be easy enough to get off. Hey, turn around and hold still. This might hurt a bit."

Kinoto grimaced at that cheery statement, but did it nonetheless. He stiffened at the feeling of cool fingers pressing against his neck.

"Don't move," said Orochimaru, and that was the only warning he got before blinding pain flashed through his body.

His back arched, a silent scream trapped behind his teeth, but it was over in a moments time and Kinoto let out a deep sigh of relief. Instantly, Tsunade was hovering over him with her eyebrows knit in concentration. Her hands glowed a pale green as she checked his health.

"Hm. Seems alright," she said finally, pulling back. "No ill effects from the seal anyway. Can't say anything for his mental health, but he's fine physically. Some bruises from the fight earlier, but that's it."

 _Mental health_. Kinoto scowled. He knew exactly just how shitty his mental health was, he didn't need these jackasses talking about it as if he wasn't even there.

"Wonderful," Namikaze said, and Kinoto was actually a bit surprised by how genuine it sounded. "Now, is there anything we can do for you?"

Kinoto blinked in shock. "Um, for _me?_ Sir?"

"Yes, _you_ ," he answered, linking his hands together and resting his chin on top of them. "We'll have more things to discuss later, but for now we're willing to grant you one request. Do you have anything in mind?"

Kinoto didn't even need to think about it.

"My mother," he blurted out, leaning forward in anticipation, "she- she's been in the hospital for years. Can I go see her?"

Namikaze was silent for a moment. Kinoto glanced around, at last remembering all the intimidating people in the room with him. He flushed in embarrassment, but stood his ground.

"Yes," Namikaze nodded, having come to some conclusion. "You'll have a guard of course, but I will allow it. In return, will you swear to answer any questions we may have about ROOT and it's conception?"

"Anything I can," Kinoto promised. He had _no_ problems with that. He couldn't give less of a shit what they did about ROOT- Danzo and all of his conspirators could burn in hell for all he cared.

"Great! Then you can go right now if you want."

"Of course," Kinoto nodded, trying not to look too eager. As if this wasn't the only thing he'd longed for during his entire tenure at this underground prison.

/=\

When he stepped into his mother's hospital room, the guard respectfully remaining outside, he felt like he could finally breath again.

"Who's there?" she called out, squinting as her gaze hovered a few feet away from where he was standing. His heart dropped. He had wanted this so badly, and now he had no idea what to say.

"It's, _uh_ , I mean, I-"

"Kinoto," she breathed out, sitting up and reaching out her hand. Her face was the picture of disbelief, but he was grateful to notice some true joy in there as well. "Is that you, child?"

"Yeah, Ma," he breathed out and took her hand. "It's me."

She could have said a lot of things in that moment. She could have cursed him for abandoning her, called him a coward for always being too afraid to go against order, told him to get out and never see her again.

Instead, she just said; "I missed you."

"I-I missed you too," Kinoto said shakily.

"Tell me everything," she said simply, clutching onto his hand like a lifeline.

And so, for the first time in his life, he did.

After finishing his long tale, filled with whispered confessions and not a few tears, he let out a deep sigh. It felt like some burden had just fallen off of him, some choking string cut free.

"That man," his mother said disparagingly, as she glowered at the thought of the man who tricked her son. "He was a model shinobi for many years, what could have caused him to go down such a path?"

"I don't know," Kinoto answered with a shrug, and it was the truth.

 _I feel like Danzo has lost track of things, somewhere along the way. He had plans that didn't make any sense, ideas to take advantage of situations that never happened. It was like he lived in an entirely different world, where everything had gone in an alternate direction._

But Kinoto was jolted out of his thoughts and brought back to the present with his mother's next words.

"And your partner? Raiden, right? Tell me... Is he kind?"

 _Yes_ , he wanted to say, _he can be. It's hard, but he can do it._

"...No," Kinoto said hoarsely, honesty spilling out of his mouth uncontrollably. "No, Ma, he's not. He's not kind, not _gentle_. He tries, but... It's just not there."

 _There's something vicious and wild inside of him. It's bites at anyone who tries to get too close, and it follows him like a shadow, no matter where he goes. He terrifies me more than anyone I've ever known._

More than Torune, with his rustling coat filled with poisonous insects. More than Yakumo, with her bizarre and dangerous illusions. Even more than Danzo, may the bastard rot in whatever jail cell he'd been thrown into.

"So, you like him," his mother said, a hint of laughter in her voice and a smile so utterly warm that it made him want to cry.

"Yeah," he answered, somehow unsurprised at the realization. "I really do."

"Well, I'm not so surprised," she conceded, sightless eyes glittering with amusement. "You always did have a type. Ruthless, strong, and utterly loyal. Just like you."

"Ma," Kinoto whined, feeling his cheeks flush red with embarrassment.

"Oh, hush you," she chided. "I don't get the chance to tease you very often. I need to make up for the time I've missed out on!"

At the reminder, his good attitude dimmed. It was true. She had missed out on so much of his life. And it was all his fault, for believing in that no-good, rotten son of a _bitch_ -

"Hey, Kin?" she said quietly, making him freeze. "I do love you. Never doubt that."

This time, he did choke up. "I love you too, Ma."

 _Please forgive me, for never being around to say it._

"Time's up," his guard said gently, and he at least had the decency to look bad about it. Kinoto just nodded, if reluctantly. This was honestly more than he had expected.

"I've gotta go, Ma."

"...Alright," his mother said, expression dimming. "Don't stay away too long."

" _Never again_ ," he swore. He stood, stretching his tired muscles, and prepared to leave the room.

"Oh, and Kin?"

He made a questioning sound, turning just enough to face her.

"Your partner, he cares for you. Is that correct?"

Surprisingly, he didn't even hesitate in that answer. "Yes. We had a rough start, but now..."

 _Now I couldn't imagine life without him. I don't think I want to._

His mother smiled, something almost satisfied in her expression. "Well then, perhaps you should give him a little more credit."

Kinoto blinked bemusedly. "If you say so...?"

"Oh, I _do_ ," she assured him. "Now get going, before that nice Shinobi outside has an aneurism from impatience."

Kinoto snorted. Now that was the mother he knew. "Okay, Ma. And... thanks."

"You're my son," she said softly, just loud enough for him to hear as he opened the door. "How could I do anything less?"

/=\

Kinoto could feel his feet dragging as was brought back to his cell. It had been a long day. He'd woken up this morning, prepared to go on yet another assassination job, and he'd ended the day like _this_.

Could this be described as a miracle? It didn't really feel like one, but this was quite possibly the best day he'd ever had. His mother was worth it. Seeing his mother was worth _everything_.

He stopped in front of his cell, and as the guard stepped forward to open the door, he took the opportunity to peek into his partner's cellblock.

Raiden was curled up in a ball, hood still covering his head and his cloaked draped around him like a safety blanket.

Kinoto's good mood soured.

"Rai..." he said softly, stepping forward before he could stop himself.

"None of that," the guard said sternly, pulling him back. "No talking allowed."

He hissed lowly in frustration, but didn't try again. Tomorrow would be another day, and soon all of this- their base, these cells, _all_ of fucking ROOT would be nothing more than a distant memory.


	17. Jonquil

["Jonquil"- _Love Me_ _; Sympathy; Desire for Affection Returned_ ]

* * *

Tonbo groaned lowly, swearing under his breath as he struggled into wakefulness. Lifting a hand to scrub at his face, he pulled it back with a disgusted huff. He was still wearing the same bandages that he'd had all week- they were super gross at this point.

He'd never had to wear the same ones for so long before... It was unnerving. With the way his life was, he liked to take as much control over himself as possible. But really, who was he trying to kid. If that was true, he wouldn't wear the bandages at _all_.

As a child, when he had been recruited into ROOT, Tonbo had been informed by their illustrious leader that he would have to wear a special set of bandages at all times. _To help keep him safe and improve his skills_ , he'd been told. And like the idiotic little five year-old he'd been, Tonbo had agreed without a second thought.

Some people might have thought it stupid, but he had never really questioned it. Why should he? He was _blind_. It literally made no difference to him what he wore- as long as he didn't get arrested for public indecency, he could not _possibly_ give less of a shit what he looked like.

Tonbo had lived his entire life this way- even as a child in the Red Light district, he'd overcome his struggles and found a way to survive that wasn't limited by his disability. To find out that he was a _Hyuga_ , the clan famed for their eyesight, _well_. It felt like a punch in the stomach. He convinced himself that it couldn't possibly be true. Maybe the paperwork was wrong, or they were just trying to screw with him. He hated to think of any other possibilities.

Right when he was about to sink back into his lethargic state of depression, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey," a voice whispered, someone that he definitely recognized. "You awake in there?"

"If I wasn't, I am now," Tonbo said dryly, resolutely shoving down the panic that was beginning to emerge. "What do ya need, Genma?"

There was a pause. The two shinobi, once coworkers and something almost like friends, stood in silence, each waiting for the other to make a move.

Finally, Genma sighed. "Time to get going. It's a new day, and there's still a shit load of interrogations to get through."

"And I'm up first, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah," he replied, and Tonbo heard the door swing open with near-silent click. "Room Three, on the left. You know the one."

"No kidding," Tonbo snorted. He'd been the one to bring a great many prisoners to that room- it was one of his favorite parts of the job, honestly. There was always that dumbass who thought they could get one over on the blind guy. He enjoyed tearing them back down to size.

That wasn't exactly the case right now, of course. He had to be honest- even with the obvious illegal activity ROOT got up to, he'd never _really_ believed that they would get caught.

Tonbo stepped outside of the cell and walked forward, mind still drifting. He could hear Genma walking near him (one step to the left, two steps back) but he barely registered it. The sound was so familiar to him already... But not like this. _Never_ like this.

Several times, he heard Genma take a breath, as if to say something, but no words ever came. Instead, he just fidgeted with the senbon in his mouth, clicking it against his front teeth.

A nervous habit, if an endearing one. One of the many things he had noticed about his comrade during their long working hours. Genma still did ANBU missions on the side, but he and Raidō mainly stuck to the T&I division. They and also been the first ones to welcome Tonbo when he had joined- well, besides Anko.

At the thought of the energetic Kunoichi, Tonbo's shoulders hunched, just slightly. He... liked Anko. They had the same sense of humor, and she never tried to push him when he didn't want to talk. They weren't best friends or anything, and she didn't have nearly the same influence over him that Yakumo did, but _still_. Tonbo wondered how she was reacting to this. To _all_ of this.

"Here."

"Hm? Oh, right," Tonbo muttered, taking a careful three steps back. "My mistake."

Damn. That hadn't happened to him in a long time... But that was the problem with his 'sight'- the second he got distracted, he lost control of it. For years he'd relied on a mixture of sensing and a sort of chakra pulse to get around, but he'd let his guard down. He'd been in this building so many times, he didn't need to use his abilities to get around. But that had cost him at this point- Tonbo had been going on autopilot, walking upstairs to the meeting room without even thinking about it.

He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts, and entered the interrogation room. Genma was just a step behind him, and when Tonbo sat down, he walked around to stand at the other side of the table. Tonbo could sense six other people in the room- Raidō, Ibiki, the Sannin, and Namikaze.

So, _this_ was how they were going to play it.

"Ibiki-san, been a while," Tonbo said easily, leaning back in his chair a bit.

"Oh yeah, for sure," Ibiki snorted, his jacket making a small whisping noise when he crossed his arms.

"Ah, come on!" Tonbo jeered, his playful smirk hiding the vicious intent behind his words. "Didn't you miss me? Sorry for not coming into work yesterday, some stuff came up. You know how it is."

"That's precisely what we wanted to talk to you about," Namikaze interrupted, probably hoping to cut any arguing off at the pass. "But first, the seal."

Tonbo clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to make a break for it when the Sannin came to crowd around him. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were murmuring amongst themselves, looking over something they were holding... a scroll maybe? But Tsunade came straight to him, tutting in disapproval.

"How long have you had these bandages on for? They should have been changed by now."

"A couple of days," he admitted. "And believe me, I would've loved to change them."

"Then why didn't you?" she said mildly, placing one of her hands on his shoulder in a vice grip. He winced, just slightly. He got the feeling that she wouldn't approve of any kind of snarky answer he'd been cooking up in his brain. "If you'd requested new bandages, we would have been happy to give them to you. You and your little clubmates haven't been charged as criminals just yet."

Tonbo scowled at the insult. "These bandages are different. I get them from Danzo personally, twice a week."

"Oh, _really_?" Tsunade said, and he didn't like where this was going. "Take them off."

Immediately, the command made panic well up within him. He'd always been told to _never_ take them off, not unless he was about to put on new ones. Tonbo tried to mask his fear, letting out a sharp laugh.

"Can't you at least buy me a drink first? I'm feeling a bit _used_ here."

"It wasn't a question," she replied coldly. In that moment, searching desperately for a way out, Tonbo realized that everyone else had gone quiet, simply watching them.

She was right. He didn't have a choice.

With trembling hands, he reached up and began to unravel the bandages. With each section of skin that was revealed, he felt like he was getting closer and closer to the hangman's noose. When Tonbo finally pulled off the last piece, he dumped the bandages on the table and waited. There was no response. The whole room was still silent, and he felt vindictively pleased.

What did they _expect_? That as soon as he took the bandages off, it would turn out that he wasn't actually blind? That just because they thought he was a Hyuga, it meant that all of his problems could be magically fixed? What a fucking _joke_. He spent his whole life like this, long before Danzo had ever picked him up.

There was the sound of quiet footsteps against a concrete floor- two of them, Genma and Raidō. Tonbo stiffened as they approached him.

"So it is true," Raidō said, and Genma hummed in agreement. A hand reached out, gently tracing a line right underneath his left eye. "You're a Hyuga."

Tonbo, who had been leaning into the caress, just a bit, pulled back in a flash. Anger, and not a small bit of hurt, sunk its teeth into him. He thought they would be _different_.

"I'm blind," he snapped. "I'm not a fucking Hyuga!"

"Y'know, you can be both blind _and_ a Hyuga," Genma said, and he sounded almost amused by this.

" _Really_?" Tonbo sneered. "I'm so sure. Where are they, then? Name me _one_ blind Hyuga, just one. You can't. Because there _aren't_ any."

"I can't name one off the top of my head, but they have to exist. The Hyuga's are one of the founding clans, it would be _impossible_ to not have any," Raidō protested, and Tonbo just knew that he was doing that cute little thing where he tilted his head to the side when he was confused, but he wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy it.

"Then how do ya think ROOT got to me, huh?! Ya think they just waltzed up the steps of my fancy-ass Hyuga mansion and asked nicely? No! They recruited me off the _streets!_ I was dumped into the _gutters_ as an infant, if one of the working girls hadn't found me-"

Tonbo cut himself off, clenching his fists in frustration. Damn it. He hadn't meant to get so emotional.

" _Tonbo_..." Genma started, sounding almost unsure for once.

"Don't," he interjected, slumping slightly. He was so tired. "Just _don't_."

"Uh, hate to interrupt the soap opera here," Jiraiya said, him and his other genin teammate stepping closer. "But we're ready to take off the seal now."

Tonbo grunted, too exhausted to protest. He closed his sightless eyes, shivering slightly at the feeling of cool fingers on his neck. It wasn't nearly as nice as Genma's had been, earlier.

"This will hurt," Orochimaru said, almost boredly. Tonbo guessed that he'd already had to do this a bunch of times. It had to get tedious eventually.

Then came the pain, and there was no time for thinking anymore. To his pride, Tonbo didn't make a single sound, toughing it out without too much trouble. He had been trained in torture, after all. This was nothing.

It was over in a mere moment, and he let out a deep breath.

"Now, we have some questions for you," Namikaze said, taking back control as the Sannin whispered to each other. "But first, Tsunade-san? Jiraiya-sensei? What's the prognosis?"

"He's definitely blind," Tsunade reported. Tonbo valiantly resisted a snort. _He_ could've told them that. "Some kind of nerve damage, I think. Probably a birth defect, from his little outburst earlier. Nothing I can do about it."

 _Good_ , he thought viciously. He didn't need to be 'fixed', especially not by people who didn't even give a damn about whether or not he _wanted_ it.

"And these bandages are why no one ever found out," Jiraiya said, and Tonbo could hear the sound of him dragging the bandages off of the table. "There's seals on 'em. Make it so nobody can look through to see his eyes- Hyuga eyes, even blind, are a pretty big giveaway."

"Alright," Namikaze nodded, before returning his attention to the former ROOT operative. "Now, as for those questions..."

Tonbo let out another sigh- he'd earned it. This was going to _suck_.

/=\

"Thank you for your... cooperation," Minato said, wording it as nicely as he could manage. Hyuga-kun has been willing enough to answer questions, but he didn't really give any details. Nothing much of note, anyway. Well, it wouldn't matter too much.

He wasn't worried about this one- that's why he had Shikaku off conferring with the other clan heads, instead of in here with them. It'd been a headache and a half to convince the clans not to try and crowd the station and meet up with their wayward clan members... Though he didn't think he'd be able to hold off the Uchiha's too much longer- the legendary clan was pissed off and making sure that _everyone_ knew it.

"Now, is there anything we could do for you?" he asked politely, pulling back to the present.

Hyuga-kun seemed to deflate, slightly. "No... no."

"Anything, anything at all?" Minato pressed, eyebrows furrowing in concern. Having his bandages taken away seemed to have severely shaken the man, and Minato couldn't help the guilt that welled up in him.

Hyuga-kun thought for a moment, reaching up to rub at his forehead in frustration, before finally saying; "The others..."

"What about them?" he asked, wary despite himself.

"Tsuchi... give him something to do. He's gotta be killing himself, locked up with nothing to occupy his brain. Give him a crossword puzzle, one of those weird mind games, I don't care. Make sure that Honoka and Yakumo are aware that you ain't planning on executing them, because they're probably working themselves into a panic attack by now. Don't let Sai fool you into believing that he's okay with everything that's going on, because he'll definitely try and convince you. But I know him, and he's gonna be _pissed_. So just watch out for that. And... have you interrogated Raiden yet?"

"Ah, no," Minato stammered, head swimming with the sudden onslaught of information. "Not yet. He's supposed to be the last one. Why?"

Hyuga-kun was silent for a moment, before answering in an almost hesitant way, unlike the snark and bluster Minato had seen before.

"Be careful," he warned, tapping his fingers across his leg in a twitchy, anxiety-filled movement. "Even if my whole division is filled with weirdos, he's still different from the rest of us."

"How so?" Minato requested quietly, starting to get a bad feeling.

"...It's hard to explain," Hyuga-kun confessed. "There are obvious reasons of course, but he's always been a bit... _strange_. Even by _my_ standards. All I'm saying is, keep on your guard. But even with that- _please_ , be kind to him. I think we've all had enough of cruelty."

Minato stiffened at the reminder of what these shinobi had suffered, and again, guilt rose like a thundering wave. If only this had been investigated _sooner_...

He shook himself out of it, reminding the young man that he still hadn't said anything that _he_ would want.

At that, Hyuga-kun let out a bitter laugh, his shoulders hunched as if he was carrying a great burden.

"Just put me back in my cell," he said wearily. "And then, if you would, please _leave me the hell alone_."


	18. Mixed Zinnia

["Mixed Zinnia"- _Thinking of an Absent Friend_ ]

* * *

Torune paced restlessly in his cell, his rinkaichū buzzing angrily. They didn't like being cooped up like this, and he could agree. As his interrogation had long since been over, he had nothing to do but wait. But unlike the typical nature of his clan, Torune had never been very patient.

He let out a huff of frustration, and flopped down onto the bed. Not very comfortable, but at this point it was the best he was gonna get. Torune buried his face into the pillow, just taking some deep breaths. He needed to calm down. Nothing was going to be accomplished by simmering in hatred- he was _better_ than that.

He had to be.

Torune shifted slightly, moving so that he was laying in his back. The gray ceiling was just as dull as it had been before, but it was the only entertainment he had. His mind drifted, going back to the day before, during his interrogation.

Honestly, it had gone a lot better than he'd thought it would. They'd taken the seal off of him, and then asked him a few basic questions;

 _What kind of missions did Danzo have you doing?_

and

 _How many divisions in the village was Danzo attempting to manipulate from behind the scenes?_

Torune answered as honestly as he could. He may have faked it well, but he didn't really have much loyalty to ROOT, or the elder that had controlled it. He did love Konohagakure, however. He loved his _clan_ , the home they had all built for themselves. And that made all the difference.

The only thing Torune hadn't been able to bring himself to answer truthfully was the query of _how_ he had been recruited in the first place. Before he'd even really been able to think about it, his mouth had spilled out one lie after another. He'd told them that Danzo had approached him, said that he was going to help him improve his skills as a shinobi with his new 'training program'. It wasn't too far off the mark- that's how most ROOT agents _had_ been recruited, after all.

But no matter what he tried, he couldn't bring himself to tell them that in _his_ case, it had been the opposite. Torune had been the one to approach Danzo with the offer of joining, and he didn't regret it.

But somehow, he got the feeling that his new jailers didn't want to hear that.

When the sound of footsteps started coming towards his cell, he sat up eagerly. Quickly, Torune smoothed out his expression, knowing better than to show such blatant emotions. But still, he couldn't stop how his insects began to buzz in anticipation. Were they finally going to grant his request...?

The door swung open, revealing the figure he'd been longing to see.

"Shino," he nodded, shifting his coat slightly to mask his small smile.

"Torune," his younger relative didn't exactly look happy to see him, and Torune felt his heart drop. "I was told that you wish to speak with me?"

"Could we perhaps take this somewhere else?"

"...Follow me."

/=\

The two sat in silence, just staring at each other. They were in one of the unused interrogation rooms, and the dreary atmosphere certainly reflected it.

Torune was too well-trained to fidget, but the anxious movements of his rinkaichū betrayed him. He didn't know what to say. He had asked for this, for the opportunity to see his fellow clansman again, and now he didn't know where to go with it.

He hadn't pictured that it would be this way. He'd imagined, in his more wistful moments, that there would be joy at his return, righteous anger at the way he and the others had been treated. Not this oppressive weight in the air, just hanging there with all of their unspoken feelings.

"I thought you were dead," Shino said, voice muffled slightly by the way he was tugging the collar of his trenchcoat up. "We _all_ thought you were dead."

"...It was for the best," Torune replied stiffly. "There was no point in getting any of you involved."

"No point?" Shino whispered, tone quiet and deadly. "We were _raised_ together Torune, you were my _brother!_ My brother with a dangerous ability that he couldn't control, who simply vanished one day after wandering into the woods! _I_ was the last person to see you, _I_ was the last person to speak with you- I thought you left because of something I did! I thought I _drove you away_ , and that my actions resulted in your _death!_ And now you're trying to tell me that it didn't even _matter?_ That I wouldn't have given anything to have you back, to apologize for what I'd done?"

Behind his dark glasses, Torune's eyes were wide with shock. Even as a child, Shino had preferred to be short and succinct. He had never seen the younger shinobi so worked up before. Had he truly had that much of an impact on Shino's life...?

Shino sat back in his chair, slumping a bit. "...My apologies. I didn't mean to shout."

"It's alright," Torune mumbled. "You're not the one who should apologize. It appears that I have made an error in judgement. Please, forgive me for that."

"Just tell me _why_ ," Shino said, leaning forward with an unreadable expression. "Why did you join them?"

Against his will, those same lies sprouted; "I was approached by Danzo when I was taking a walk in the woods, and he told me that-"

"The truth!" Shino snapped, before deflating slightly when Torune winced. " _Please_."

"...I don't know," Torune said, but that wasn't quite right either. He corrected himself, saying; "I don't know what to tell you."

The two stared at each other, waiting to see who would break first. Shino let out a small 'tch', and shook his head.

"Well, whatever the reason, the clans are up in arms. Almost all of the major families were affected by this- the Yamanaka, the Nara, the Kurama, the Sarutobi, you name it. This whole procedure is being carefully watched, and the outcome will affect the village greatly. It will be hard to shuffle all of the ROOT agents back into the active ranks, and there will have to be a lot of testing before even _that_ can happen."

Torune hummed in agreement, though internally he was experiencing a bit of doubt. He wasn't sure about the lower ranking members, but he knew that many of his comrades wouldn't be as eager to return to combat as the village seemed to think they would be. They better make sure to ask first, or else there would be a mutiny on their hands.

There was a long moment of silence, and Shino turned his head to glance at the clock.

"Our time's up. I should bring you back to your cell."

"Of course," Torune said, nodding compliantly. He obediently followed along when Shino led him from the room, but took the opportunity to peek into his fellow comrades cells.

Tsuchi was fidgeting with some kind of brightly colored cube, but it must have been a recent development. His forearms were raw and streaked with red- he was scratching, again. The older operative did that when he got anxious, not as a way to hurt himself, but as a way to relieve the tension. It was an unconscious gesture, but not a healthy one. Torune was happy he now had something to distract him.

Shin was sitting in the middle of his cell, deep in meditation, but when Torune passed by he cracked an eye open and gave him a wan smile. He seemed alright. His eyes had deep bags under them, but that was the only obvious sign of his distress. Shin was strong, stalwart- he would be fine.

Yakumo was laying on her bed, seemingly asleep. Torune hesitated by her cell for a moment, indecision warring inside him, before a polite cough from Shino urged him on. Yakumo was an extremely stressed and scattered individual, so hopefully she was just taking this as an opportunity to catch up on some sleep, and wasn't wallowing in depression as he feared.

The only other room he was able to catch a glance of was his partner's, Fū. The orange-haired Yamanaka was staring moodily at the wall, and Torune had to resist a laugh. That was Fū, alright. He brushed off troubles far more easily than the rest of their little group, and though he might act like a cantankerous bastard, he was pragmatic enough that he wouldn't let a _small setback_ like this stop him. Fū was actually the only one who he would be surprised if he _didn't_ go back into active duty. His partner had the heart of a true shinobi, and probably wouldn't care too much he was serving as long as they had the best intentions for Konoha.

It seemed that people were mostly okay. At that, Torune let out a sigh of relief. He might not have been super close to most of them, but he _had_ grown up with them. He had lived with them his entire life- he wanted them to be happy. Sometimes, he wished that he _did_ have deeper bonds with his comrades, but he could never bring himself to reach out.

A childhood spent terrified of hurting people with his poisonous insects seemed have left it's scars after all.

When they finally arrived at his own cell, Torune couldn't help stalling for a moment. He looked at Shino and clenched his fists. He wanted to pull the younger man into a hug, but he got the feeling that it wouldn't be welcome. Not now, at least.

So instead, he turned and stepped inside.

At the last possible moment he spun around, blurting it out before he could come to his senses; "I did it to protect you!"

 _I went to Danzo because I saw him and his agents watching us, watching you. I volunteered myself, because I would have had nothing to live for if he had taken you._

Torune thought of a father, dead, a village terrified of him, terrified of the poison he couldn't control. And he thought of Shino, accepting him, welcoming him, calling him _brother_.

"I know," Shino said quietly, sounding almost defeated. "But I didn't ask you to."

He shut the door, and Torune could only slump his shoulders at the silent rejection. Yeah. That _really_ hadn't gone the way he'd wanted it to.


	19. General Poppy

["General Poppy"- _Eternal Sleep; Oblivion_ ]

* * *

Honoka drew patterns onto the dusty floor. Half-hearted and lazy seals were drawn all around the cell- none of them activated, she didn't much feel like getting dragged into the interrogation room again.

Though, in all honesty, it hadn't been _too_ bad. It had just been Namikaze-san, Nara-san, Orochimaru-san, and Tsunade-san. Not a huge crowd of people, like she'd been fearing. And they had been quite accommodating towards her... circumstances.

Namikaze-san himself had been unable to fully understand her, but Nara-san had picked up her little idiosyncrasies extremely quick. Nothing less than could be expected from the infamously brilliant clan leader, and he was happy to play interpreter when the Hokage started to struggle in keeping up. The interrogation itself had gone by astonishingly fast. Once they'd removed the seal, everything had gone very smooth. They'd really only asked her about the inner workings of ROOT itself, not about any of it's plans or meddling in the village. They must have read in her file about how she very rarely left the ROOT base- she honestly didn't know much of value. Her time was spent experimenting with seals and doing paperwork. Honoka participated in training, of course, but she wasn't a field agent.

It had all been going so well that she should have been immediately suspicious. After Honoka had politely turned down their offer of something they could give her (she wanted to owe these people the absolute _least_ amount possible), she had instantly been put on guard by Namikaze-san's sheepish grin

"Well, if that's the case," he'd said, boyish face practically radiating innocence, "is it alright if I ask you to do a favor for me?"

 _What is it?_ she'd asked flatly, facial expression completely unimpressed at his attempts to display naivety. Honoka knew just what kind of a vicious nature could hide behind that nature, after all.

"It's my wife," he'd admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "She's an Uzumaki, as you may know. She doesn't get to see any of her clansmen too often- even though we're allies, Uzushio is pretty far away. I told her about you, and she wants to meet up with you. Talk a bit, tell you about your heritage. That's all."

Honoka wasn't sure how to react to that. But it wasn't really like she could refuse...

 _Yes_ , Honoka replied, _that's fine._

"Great!" he'd brightened, smiling at her in a way that made her heart swell. "She'll be by in just a little bit to pick you up, so just wait in your cell until then, okay?"

 _Pick me up?_ she'd signed, hesitantly. _Are we going somewhere?_

Namikaze-san's eyes had sparkled with mischief at her cautious query. "You'll see."

So now, here she was. Waiting for an unknown relative to whisk her away for some private talk. Honoka could admit to some anxiety. In an attempt to calm down so that she wouldn't make a fool of herself, she settled cross-legged on the floor, taking some deep breaths.

If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine that she was in her home village again. It seemed like she could hear rain pattering against the windowpane, and her mother's music box playing it's strained and clunky melody.

Honoka sighed, wrapping her arms around his knees and pulling them to her chest. She curled up into the fetal position, her long hair splaying around her like a red veil. She wished that she could experience the simplicity of those days again. True, she had lived in poverty and had fallen into a deep depression after the death of her parents, but there had been no ROOT, then. No mysterious assassins, no one trying to control her every move.

But there had also been no Tsuchi, back then. So maybe all of this pain had been worth it after all.

Honoka missed him, missed the time they spent together. Whether she was silent or not, Tsuchi had never tried to push her into anything. He had never attempted to force her to speak, or humiliated and belittled her when she couldn't even bring herself to sign. Honoka had never known someone like that before, someone who simply treated her like a person, like a _friend_ , instead of as a burden or an object of scorn.

She wondered if she would ever meet anyone else who could see her in that way. Somehow, she rather doubted it.

/=\

The door slammed open, causing Honoka to scurry backwards in alarm.

"Oh, my bad!" the woman standing there laughed, hands on her hips. "I didn't mean to startle you."

She stepped further into the room, and Honoka's hands shook, just slightly. How was she supposed to respond? _Was_ she was supposed to respond?

"My name is Uzumaki Kushina," she introduced herself, smiling brightly. "Mind telling me yours? My husband neglected to inform me of it in his... haste."

Honoka bit her lip, looking down. It wasn't that she thought Kushina-san wouldn't be able to understand her... But somehow, she just couldn't bring herself to do anything.

"It's alright," Kushina said kindly, linking her hands together in front of her, waiting patiently. "Whenever you're ready."

 _I... sorry_ , Honoka signed slowly, watching the woman's eyes track her hands intensely. _I don't speak. My name is Uzumaki Honoka. I'm sorry that is has to be like this._

"Oh, no no no," Kushina dismissed, stepping forward and clasping Honoka's hands in hers. "You don't need to apologize. _Never_ apologize for who you are."

Honoka's face burned in embarrassment, but a shy smile still lit up her expression. Perhaps this wasn't going to be as awful as she thought it was...

"Now, come on! I've got the perfect place for us to go."

/=\

 _A ramen stand_ , Honoka thought amusedly. _Somehow, I'm not surprised._

"I can tell by that bemused expression that you have never been to the majesty that is Ichiraku's Ramen. Well, don't worry! This place will make you an addict in just one bowl." Kushina gave a thumbs up, practically salivating at the thought.

Honoka's shoulders shook with silent laughter, and she raised a hand to cover her mouth politely. This had not been at _all_ like she thought it would. Kushina-san was far less intimidating than she'd feared the Hokage's wife would be. It was very reassuring, to be honest.

"Now come on, sit down!"

Honoka obeyed, sitting next to her older relative and carefully perusing the menu. Kushina-san needed no such wait, immediately calling out her order.

"Have you picked something?" she asked, peering over Honoka's shoulder to see what item she was looking at. "If you're nervous about ordering, I'm happy to do that for you."

 _I'm just not sure what to get,_ Honoka signed, shrugging her shoulders. _I've never had ramen before._

Kushina-san leapt back with an exaggerated gasp. "Oh. Honoka-chan! Never had ramen? This is a _travesty_ that must be rectified at once! Oi, Jii-chan! Add another bowl onto my order!"

The ramen chef, who had been waiting patiently for her to decide, just sighed heavily at the command. "Of course, coming right up."

The food seemed to come only mere moments later, and Honoka took the steaming bowl of noodles gingerly. She broke her chopsticks apart and took a cautious bite.

"Ya like?" Kushina asked in a muffled tone, mouth already full of the delicious food.

Honoka eagerly nodded her head, ignoring the slight burning sensation as she gulped down more ramen. It was absolutely _fantastic!_ What had she been missing all her life?

The two sat in a comfortable silence, eating their food with single-minded abandon. When Honoka finished her bowl, she looked over to see Kushina-san working on her fifth. She smiled at the image, but her happiness dropped quickly. With nothing left to distract her, Honoka started to wonder. Why had Kushina-san wanted to speak with her? Sure, they were relatives, but they didn't know each other. They couldn't even be close relations, because Honoka's home village had been quite a ways away from Uzushio. And why bring her out to eat? What was the point of wanting to talk if there was no actual conversation?

Setting aside her last bowl, Kushina-san let out a satisfied sigh. She opened her mouth as if to say something, and Honoka tensed in preparation-

"Kaa-chan!" a orange blur ran into her, making Kushina-san let out a surprised curse.

"Naruto!" she said, brightening when she realized who it was. "Why are you here?"

"Uh, _ramen_ ," Naruto answered, rolling his eyes at what he clearly thought should be an obvious conclusion.

Honoka wanted to laugh at their exchange, but worried about intruding. Instead, she started fidgeting with her empty bowl, wishing she had something else to distract her.

"Wait, are you here with Tou-san?"

"Nah, not today. I'm here with Honoka-chan!"

"...Who?"

Honoka tensed when the younger shinobi spun around, scrutinizing her heavily.

"Naruto, this is Uzumaki Honoka," Kushina introduced, smiling and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Honoka-chan, this is my son, Naruto."

"Oh wow!" Naruto beamed, practically jumping up and down in his excitement. "You're an Uzumaki, like us! Are you from Uzushio? Why are you visiting? Did you come to meet me? Are you going to be staying with us? Are you a shinobi? I mean, I don't see a headband but maybe-"

"Let her breath!" Kushina laughed, putting a hand over his mouth to cut him off.

Honoka didn't mind. It was nice to have someone interested in her, someone who wanted to know her opinion and experiences.

She began to sign her response, telling Naruto about her home village, when he just stared at her blankly. Honoka's heart sank. _Oh_... He didn't know sign.

"I can't understand you," Naruto said bluntly, scratching the back of his head in confusion. "Can you not speak?"

Honoka shrank in her seat, looking to Kushina-san for a way out. But the older woman was just watching the two of them interact, waiting to see what would happen.

"So, do you use those hand signs to communicate?" Naruto asked, a weirdly intense look on his face.

Honoka, nodded, eyes fixed on her feet dangling a few inches above the ground. She was so short, the stool at the bar kept her suspended up in the air.

She jumped in surprise when Naruto suddenly put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, you need to teach me!" he said excitedly, though the look in his eyes was deadly serious.

Her eyes were wide in confusion, and he seemed to recognize that, because he gave her a kind smile, loosening his grip slightly.

"Well, we're _family_ , aren't we? I wanna be able to talk to you! So please, teach me how!"

Honoka examined his determined expression, the genuine affection in every line of his face.

And for the first time in her life, she was incredibly happy that ROOT had brought her to this moment.

/=\

She didn't return to her cell until almost dusk, but she didn't care at all. She was practically giddy with the wholesome feelings racing inside her.

Naruto had called them _family!_

And he really meant it, too. He had spent the next several hours working with her on handsigns, Kushina-san helping as an interpreter when the phrases were a bit too varied or complicated to write down. They must have consumed about fifty bowls of ramen, but somehow Honoka had never felt so content.

Was this what it was like, having a _real_ family?

If so, maybe she wouldn't mind staying here a bit longer. Honoka rolled over on her bed, a happy sigh escaping her. This day had started with anxiety and fear, but if there was ever a good way to end a day, it was like this.

It didn't even matter that she was still stuck in a cell. As long as Honoka could keep this tiny balloon of hope inside her chest, she could survive anything.


	20. Petunia

["Petunia"- _Resentment; Anger; Your Presence Soothes Me_ ]

* * *

Raiden scowled, the sound of laughter drifting down towards his cell. _Three days_. Three days he'd been stuck in this damn place, without a word from anyone. There was a tray on the floor with a plate of food and some water, but it had long gone cold. Just like every other one that they had given him. He wasn't going to take _anything_ from these bastards.

Even if his stomach was starting to pinch, and his head had been aching for days.

He sprang up with a snarl when someone came to his door, opening it with a long, drawn-out creak. Quickly, he shoved his contempt to the side and kept his expression blank. As two shinobi entered the cell, Raiden fiddled with his cloak just a bit, making sure that the hood still covered his hair.

There wasn't much of a point to it now, but he still wanted to keep as much to himself as he could.

"C'mon," one of them spoke, slipping a senbon between his teeth as he did. "Time to go."

Raiden fell into place, the Senbon-shinobi in front of him, and his silent partner behind. Walking down the long, silent halls, Raiden felt his anxiety creeping up on him. What was going to happen now? Interrogation? Torture?

(In the deep recesses of his mind, growing ever stronger as time went on, he could hear a faint whisper. _Listen_ , came the hushed voice, _listen to me! This isn't right, this isn't what it should be! Listen!_ Raiden ignored it with the ease of practice.)

He was brought to a room at the very end of the hall, rather cramped but thankfully brightly lit. It didn't look like an interrogation room, but he'd only been in the one at the ROOT base, so that probably wasn't much to go by.

"Right here," his guard said, gesturing towards the metal chair on one side of the table. On the other side was an identical chair, looking just as uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, Raiden sat down without protest. He knew when to pick his battles, and this is not one that he would win. When he did so, the shinobi accompanying him got to work. They strapped his legs against the chair, and his arms as well. Raiden couldn't help the angry twitch he gave at the action, barely stopping himself from attacking them. Violence wasn't going to help his case here, as much as it was usually his preferred method of persuasion.

They left right after, though not without giving him some kind of lingering stare. There was something in that gaze that he couldn't quite identify, but he also couldn't really bring himself to care at this point.

Instead, he began steeling himself for the coming pain. When these bastards strolled in, expecting him to be some kind of pushover just because of his 'damaged' background, he would be ready. Raiden couldn't wait.

/=\

Almost an hour had gone past, and he was beginning to shift in his seat, unable to stay completely still for so long. He tugged lightly at his restraints, scowling to himself when they proved too tight to allow him any respite.

Damnit. Hopefully, they weren't trying to just make him wait it out. He'd rather deal with the torture, to be honest. At least then he had a solid, real presence to direct his hatred towards.

Raiden's ears perked slightly, hearing the slow march of people coming down the hall towards the room. He craned his neck around as much as he was able, being belted down like that, and tried to get a glimpse of who was coming in.

He thought that he was ready for anything. Raiden had not been ready for this.

" _Danzo-sama_ ," he breathed out, eyes widening in shock as he goggled at the elder being led into the room in chains.

Danzo shot him a sharp look, and Raiden instantly cowered, shoulders hunching as his mouth snapped shut on a million questions. Right, there was still other shinobi in the room with them.

And the _Hokage_ was one of them.

"Alright, here's the deal," Namikaze said sternly, clearly not in the mood for any kind of mischief. "You get twenty minutes to talk. After that, Raiden-kun is going back to his cell to wait for his interrogation. And you, Danzo are going to have your trial. Understood?"

"Understood," the two murmured, Raiden far more begrudgingly than his older counterpart.

Namikaze nodded sharply, and his whole contingent marched out after him. One of them, a girl with dark purple hair, turned to catch one fleeting glimpse of him as she left- the look on her face was inscrutable, but it put Raiden on edge somehow.

Still, he was very glad to see them go. As soon as the last person was through the door, he eagerly turned to Danzo.

"Danzo-sama, you have my deepest apologies for how things have ended up-"

"There's no need," Danzo interrupted. The furrowing scars on his face seemed deeper than ever before. "And be careful, my boy. Despite how it may seem, we are not alone."

Raiden's eyes briefly flicked over to the large mirror covering the entire right side of the room.

 _Of course_. He should have known better.

"Alright," Raiden let out a deep breath, allowing a wave of calm to wash over him. "What are we going to do now?"

Danzo shook his head, folding his hands on the metal table. "Nothing. There's nothing we _can_ do."

"But, sir-"

" _However_ ," Danzo said sharply, raising a brow and practically daring him to interrupt. Wisely, Raiden stayed silent. "However, the reason that I created ROOT still exists. Konohagakure still stands, and as such, my legacy shall live on."

Raiden nodded, beaming with pride. "Yes, sir!"

"Do you remember what I told you, before you left on your long-term mission?" Danzo continued. "Without roots, the tree will perish. But as long as the foundation of our work is still there, this village will continue to thrive."

Yes, Raiden did remember that. The whole reason behind his mission, the real reason- not the 'sabotage and training' excuse he'd fed to Kinoto. He... regretted it, but he'd had no choice. Danzo knew best, and he'd said that Kinoto wouldn't understand. So Raiden had kept the truth under lock and key, and simply enjoyed the time he could get with Kin before slipping away and doing his _real_ assignments.

"Our mission is not yet over," Danzo murmured.

Raiden looked up, abruptly yanked out of his inner thoughts, and frowned in confusion. Danzo was staring off into space, and his voice was hazy.

"If that wretched boy had only died like he was supposed to, none of this would have happened," Danzo growled. Raiden got the sense that the elder wasn't actually speaking to him.

"Things could have been so much simpler," he kept on going, though now with more of a nostalgic tone. "The Akatsuki would have done so much of my work for me. I had to spread my agents much farther than before. I couldn't keep as tight a grip on them. You forgive me, don't you?"

"Uh, sir...?" Raiden said hesitantly, starting to get quite alarmed. The Akatsuki? Was he talking about the organization created by the Amekage? They were largely defunct now that many of them held positions within the actual village itself…

(He could hear it, very faintly. Laughter, dark and biting. _Isn't this what you deserve?_ it whispered. _Look at what you've done. Nothing lasts forever, child. Especially ignorance._ )

Danzo's eyes snapped forward, startling Raiden with the intensity of them.

" _You_ ," he hissed, standing from his chair. Though he was in chains, he wasn't bolted down to anything like Raiden was. "This is all _your_ fault. They told me that you were the key, that you could change things back to the way they should be, but you have proved to be nothing but a liability. Your mere _presence_ infected my agents, whether with love or hate it matters little. You gave them _choice_. All of my mistakes are _your_ fault- the names, the missions, everything! You were supposed to save the world, and _now_ you will be the one to destroy it."

With surprising agility, Danzo shot his arm over the table, reaching for Raiden's throat.

Raiden tried to scramble back, letting out a cry of alarm, but he wasn't able to escape before Danzo's hand closed around his windpipe, cutting off his airways.

Throughout it all, Danzo's eyes stayed steadily locked on his own.

(The voice in his head wasn't laughing now.)

/=\

Anko folded her arms across her chest, watching the proceedings intently. They hadn't taken the seal off of this one yet, so he couldn't say anything too incriminating, but it didn't matter. They weren't watching for what they said- they wanted to see how the two of them interacted.

So far, it was... _different_ than she'd expected. Sure, there was that underlying sense of worship that most ROOT agents possessed for their esteemed leader, but it had a strange sort of hesitance to it.

This one, Raiden, she thought his name was, had a different air to him than the others. Anko could recognize it easily- she saw it every day in herself. It was anger. Anger at a world that hadn't treated them right, a world that had promised them everything and then taken it away. She wasn't as bad off as him, as her time spent with Sensei and his family had greatly helped to heal the wounds left by her parents deaths.

But still... Anko could understand the dark edge to Raiden's soul. It was the poisoned fangs of a serpent, always waiting patiently for you to let down your guard.

She was torn out of her musings when there was a large screeching sound.

Danzo had shoved his chair back, making the metal scrape against the concrete floor. He was _strangling_ the kid!

"Oi!" Anko shouted, all of them leaping into action.

Her, Hokage-sama, Genma, Raidō, Sakumo and Tenzō raced into the room, pulling the two of them apart. Genma and Raidou secured Danzo, the bastard, and Anko quickly pulled the straps off of the ROOT agent.

As soon as he was free, Raiden staggered away from them, hands clutching at his throat as he took in deep breaths. Anko made a move as if to go help him, but froze as soon as the sight registered.

Raiden's hood had fallen off in all of the commotion, and his perfectly white hair was now on full display. Well, not _perfect_ \- it'd been a couple of days since he'd showered, but enough so that the resemblance was obvious.

Spiky white hair, that same angular face. And the _eyes_... Golden, narrowed. Not quite like her Sensei's, who had the cunning eyes of a snake, but something other. The eyes of a _wolf_ , ruthless and cold.

Next to her, Sakumo was in a similar state of shock, staring blankly at the young man who shared his face.

"Stop it," Raiden rasped out, face flushing with rage or embarrassment she couldn't tell. " _Stop looking at me!_ "

Sakumo shied away, as if struck. Anko wavered, unsure of what to do. Tenzō had no such reservations, walking calmly over to the boy and helping him stand.

"What do you need?" Hokage-sama said to him gently.

Anko wanted to facepalm. _Gentle_ was clearly not something this agent wanted, or understood.

"Take me back to the cell," Raiden growled, struggling to his feet and shaking off Tenzō's helping hand.

"Of course."

It seemed that the interrogation would have to be put off.

Genma and Raidō led the restrained Danzo outside, the elder still raving about 'the truth'. Fucking hell, what a nutcase.

As Raiden was also escorted out, Anko caught a fleeting glimpse of the burning look in his eyes.

 _He's going to do something stupid,_ Anko thought grimly. _And if he's not careful, he won't live to regret it._

* * *

 **Notes** :

Wow, chapter twenty! We're almost there everybody! The action is going to be coming like a punch in the gut from now on, so make sure you're prepared! Thanks for all of the wonderful responses to this story, they make me work harder than I ever have before. I've had so many sweet comments, and I get so happy when I see that someone has enjoyed my work. Thank you all so much!

As always, you can ask me any questions you may have and I'm happy to answer. You can ask here, or on my tumblr! (mm-mendell)

I hope I can continue to provide for you all, and get ready for the last arc!


	21. Marigold

["Marigold"- _Cruelty; Grief; Jealousy_ ]

* * *

The atmosphere in the room was usually tense. Though it was to be expected, with that display earlier.

Sakumo still couldn't get over it. Danzo had just snapped, and so quickly! There had been plenty of warning signs that some kind of psychosis was emerging, but no one had expected his condition to decay so rapidly. If he had only known what would have happened...

He shook his head, letting out a quiet huff in an attempt to clear his mind. It didn't matter what he could've done- it was already over. Now, Sakumo just had to deal with the consequences.

That moment, when he had recognized the flash of white, the sharp cheekbones, the angry snarl pulling at his lips... Sakumo had felt like all the air had escaped out of his lungs in a single breath. Looking at Raiden was like looking at Kakashi through a distorted mirror- younger, thinner, angrier.

It made Sakumo think of days long passed, after the mission that had almost cost him his life. Kakashi had refused to speak to him for days, unsure of why Sakumo had made that decision and unwilling to find out. He'd had that same kind of tired, almost expectant anger. Sakumo could only feel the same emotion now as he did back then; regret.

There was so much he regretted, about all of this.

"He's my son, then."

"That's what the file says, anyway," Minato sighed, dropping the thin folder onto the tabletop. "There's not much in here, but the information that is available is rather..."

"That's putting it mildly," Sakumo murmured, fists clenching against his will. Orochimaru reached over, resting one of his hands on Sakumo's thigh. He relaxed, sending his husband a grateful look. The crooked smile he received in reply made his heart swell. God, he was so lucky.

"Tenzō-kun, what's your take on this?" Minato asked, turning to inspect the former ROOT operative.

Tenzō shrugged, though his face remained blank. "Genetic experiment, like me. Not too surprising- I knew that Danzo didn't quit with them, even after all the failures. I didn't know about Raiden's origins though. His whole squad mainly kept to themselves, rarely saw them throughout the rest of the base. Never saw enough of him to suggest such a thing..."

He trailed off, and Sakumo noticed the way his expression was tinged with discomfort. The hand on his thigh tightened briefly, and a single glance at Orochimaru betrayed the anger he was feeling.

And Orochimaru had every right to be angry. Danzo had used his experiments on genetic manipulation for his own selfish gain- there was very little that could piss a shinobi off more than someone stealing their techniques. Doubly so in this instance, when it involved something so incredibly monumental. The ability to create new life... That was not something that should be left in the hands of a madman.

Sakumo took Orochimaru's hand in his own, returning the comfort. Orochimaru squeezed his hand in reply, before opening his mouth to speak.

"It's quite clear what happened here," he said, frowning severely. "Danzo used my research to create more clones. The question now is, what do we do about it? Are Tenzō-kun and Raiden-kun the only ones?"

"The only ones who survived," Minato said grimly.

Sakumo stiffened at the remark. He knew that it was true, had vaguely suspected the same thing himself, but to hear it out so bluntly...

What must it have been like, to grow up that way? To not know your own identity, to not know your family? Or was it the other way around? To know that you had living relatives, to live in the same damn village as them and yet never be able to interact with them.

It sounded like a nightmare

"It says here that his mother was agent 50875," Minato said, rifling through the file. "Apparently she volunteered, on the condition that she would maintain contact with him after he was born. She was chosen because of her high chakra storages, and was given full permission. Shortly after she recovered from her pregnancy, however, she was sent on an assassination mission and never returned. She's presumed to be dead."

There was a heavy silence in the room. Only a few conclusions could be brought from information like that, and none of them were nice.

"There's nothing we can do with this," Sakumo said, voice grave as he rubbed his forehead. "Anything that we could have done- should have done, well. The time is long past. Instead, let's focus on the perpetrator. What are we going to do with him?"

"Well, the council is supposed to take a vote later today," Minato said slowly, gazing at Sakumo with just the tiniest hint of pity. "Most likely, he'll be executed. He's pissed off too many major clans, caused too much damage. The sabotage he was doing to our inner systems would be enough to warrant it, anyway. Treason, especially as deep and widespread as his, isn't easy to forgive."

"Good," Tenzō nodded, and though his expression was calm, his eyes burned.

Though Sakumo agreed, there was still something he thought had to be addressed. "Is there any chance he could get off on an insanity plea? We all saw what happened in there with Raiden. He had some kind of break with reality in the middle of their meeting!"

"That doesn't matter," Minato said firmly, shaking his head. "If he was able to keep it together in public up until this very moment- when he's already lost, and he knows it, then he was sane enough to know the consequences of his actions. Now I'm not saying that he's ever been playing with a full deck, but he has no excuse for what he's done. It was all clearly thought-out and meticulously planned. He wouldn't have been able to do that if he was as mad as he appears to be now."

Orochimaru let out a little noise of acknowledgement, about the closest thing he would get to a clear agreement. Sakumo could only sigh.

He'd known that, and it wasn't like he wanted Danzo to escape punishment... He just wished that there was another explanation. Some answer that didn't go back to one of the villages most trusted and respected shinobi.

"Well, think of it this way," Tenzō said, his voice edging on cheerful at the thought of Danzo being executed. "Things can always be worse."

/=\

Raiden crouched by the door of his cell, concentrating on tracking the chakra signatures around him. This was more Tonbo's specialty than his, but he was decent enough.

It seemed that most of the signatures were concentrated around the front entrance. There was less people there than normally... He assumed they were in some kind of meeting. Probably about the shitshow that had happened earlier.

He was pointedly not thinking about that.

 _Well_ , he thought to himself, _I'm probably not gonna get a better moment._

Taking a deep breath, he brought the tiniest sliver of chakra to his hand that he could. His right hand gained a faint white tinge to it, and he brought it up to the metal door. Carefully, Raiden sliced through the lock in the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. When he had succeeded, he opened the door just slightly, barely enough room for him to slip through. As long as the door didn't creak, he would be all set.

Thankfully, some merciful god must have been looking down on him. He got through the hall and up the stairs with no witnesses, though he had paused for a moment by Kinoto's cell.

A strange feeling had welled up inside him in that moment.

 _Is this regret?_ He wondered to himself. But in the end, it didn't matter. He had more important things to be doing.

( _More important than the only one who cared for you, trusted you unhesitatingly?_ A low voice whispered in his ear. Raiden ignored it, but it was becoming more and more of a struggle.)

Positioning his cloak so as to hide his hair and most of his uniform, Raiden strode out of the T&I building.

 _One of the best ways to stay under the radar,_ he thought to himself amusedly, remembering those many days spent undercover in the neighboring nations, _was to simply act as if you had always been there. People rarely questioned someone who looked like they had nothing to hide._

He really _had_ picked an opportune time, however. Raiden had no trouble admitting that to himself. All the high-level shinobi seemed to be concentrated in the Hokage tower- a war council, most likely. And the shinobi left in the village seemed distracted, whispering amongst themselves and paying Raiden no mind as he calmly walked past them.

For a second, he wondered if it would be foolish to try going to the old ROOT base. Probably. Even though it had already been three days, there was likely still some people going through all of the information kept there.

Instead, he headed for the secret exit by the north wall. It probably hadn't been discovered yet, so it was his best chance of getting out of here that didn't involve going through the gates.

And Raiden had to get out. He had to find it... To know the _truth_. Danzo had said a lot of crazy shit towards the end of that meeting- even _he_ could admit that, but not all of it was indecipherable. It had something to do with his missions, and Raiden had to know what.

So, he slipped out through the crack in the wall, bounding forward to hide by among the thick trees outside Konohagakure. In a way, he couldn't believe that he'd actually done it. He'd _left_.

At the thought, he hesitated. Raiden turned, looking back to the imposing walls of the place he had called home.

( _Home? That's not a home._ There was a sneer somewhere in that sound. _That's a prison. They kept us trapped there, and for what?_ )

Konoha meant almost nothing to him. It had been the people in it that kept him coming back, knowing that Kinoto and Danzo and all the others were waiting for him to return. If they hadn't, he might have just drifted off and never gave the village a second thought.

What was he to do now? If his suspicions turned out to be correct, what was he supposed to _do_ with that knowledge?

Raiden shook his head, shifting his gaze back to the tree-line. None of that mattered right now, anyways. He had to actually _find_ the truth before he could figure out what he was going to do with it.

/=\

After hours of running with the night sky above him and exhaustion nipping at his heels, Raiden finally found it.

During his five-year 'training' trip with Kinoto, Danzo had requested that he also take time to hone his most important skill- assassination. Raiden would receive assignments several times a month, a certain missing-nin or unaffiliated shinobi that the elder wanted taken care of. And after getting the drop on his opponents and leaving them almost dead, he would take them here.

This cave was the perfect distance between Amegakure and Sunagakure, where the two partners had spent most of their time.

Raiden hadn't questioned it, even when the voice in his head had screamed its suspicions. He had no reason to- he was a loyal member of ROOT, despite all of the strange things that had been going on. Really, those only made him want to be even _better_ \- to prove himself _worthy_ of working for the man who had saved his life.

So, he'd dumped the bodies in the cave and gone on his merry way.

But if what Danzo had been rambling about earlier was true... Then that meant there was more to this place than having it just being a convenient dumping ground for corpses.

He made his way in, using the light emanating from his chakra scalpel as a guide. A little bit past the entrance, Raiden noticed lines upon lines of symbols decorating the ground.

 _Seals_. And if he was reading them correctly, they were designed by Honoka. See, all personalized seals had a bit of a different twist to them. All of Honoka's seals were rather delicate looking in nature- thin lettering, and very faint. As an Uzumaki, she had both the expertise and the abundance of chakra necessary to fuck around with seals like this.

But... These seals didn't have _her_ chakra in them. No, it was the strangest thing. A mixture of auras that he didn't recognize, so many of them all bleeding together. And the whole thing was _pulsing_. Almost like a heartbeat.

As he went further and further into the cave, his common sense was screaming at him. _There was no bodies._ There should have been bodies. He must have dumped at least a hundred people in this damn place, _where were the corpses?_

When he turned the corner, frustration rising, that's when he saw it.

A humongous, _terrifying_ statue. The cloaked figure seemed to be almost two stories tall, brushing the very roof of the cave. It's appearance was that of a rotting demon, nine creepy eyes opened and seemingly staring right at him.

Raiden backed away, some sort of primal terror rearing its head. What the fuck...?

( _What do I do_ , he asked, talking directly to the little voice for the very first time. _What is this thing?_ There was no reply.)

"We- _ell_ , what _d_ -o _we_ h-aaave _he-ree_?" A two-toned, disturbing voice called out from somewhere behind him.

(Now, the voice began screaming.)


	22. Hydrangea

["Hydrangea"- _Thank You for Understanding_ ]

* * *

Genma walked down the hall, pushing the squeaky cart in front of him. It was his turn to be on food duty, and he was already hating it. Okay, maybe that wasn't quite fair. It's not like the job was actually hard, or the prisoners uncooperative... But that was just it. _Prisoners_. These ROOT agents were doing some serious damage to his resolve. They were all just so _sad_.

When he'd gone in to give Hitsuji his food (who had turned out to be named Tsuchinoto- privately, Genma thought that the name didn't really suit him), the man had actually _flinched away_ from him! It was understandable, if disheartening.

Now, Genma had dealt with spies and traitors before- it was a huge part of his job, after all. But it had never been quite like _this_ , people from his own village forced into what basically amounted to slavery, unable to leave and eventually brainwashed into thinking that they didn't want to. _God_ , the whole thing made him want to march right out of the building and wring that old bastard's neck.

He stopped in front of the next room, wishing that he could have grabbed a couple of senbon before coming down here. Unfortunately, that was against regulation. But right now, he really longed for the comfort that his old habit provided.

Pushing away his unease, Genma knocked on Tonbo's door.

"Hey, it's room service. I'm coming in."

Without waiting for a reply, Genma entered the tiny cell. Tonbo turned his sightless eyes on him, and Genma resisted a shiver. It was still so strange to see the other man without his typical bandages on- he seemed oddly vulnerable. Genma wasn't sure he liked it.

"Oi, oi, what's this? Just barging in here all recklessly? Have some restraint, Genma- what if I had been naked?"

"If you were naked," Genma said dryly, "then I would've had a _lot_ more questions for you than I do now."

Tonbo only wiggled his eyebrows in response, and Genma barked out a laugh before he could stop himself.

He quickly grabbed the food from the cart, setting the plate down in front of him. "Enjoy. I'll be by to collect the dishes later."

His attempt at fleeing, however, was halted by Tonbo pointedly clearing his throat.

"What is it?" Genma turned back with an exaggerated scowl, before he could manage to school his expression into a blank mask. It was so easy to fall back into their old patterns, start snarking back and forth and playing petty pranks. _Too_ easy.

"I'd like to lodge a complaint," Tonbo said imperiously, folding his arms with a disdainful sniff. "When I arrived to my room, there was no mint on the pillow! And why, this room is so small I can barely stand up straight! How can you people expect to stay in business with such shitty accommodations?"

"Ah, but you know what they say," Genma countered. "At our lovely T&I, you're always free to check in, but afterwards you can never leave!"

The two burst into laughter, relief filling them at the familiar dialogue. He could almost imagine that this was just another work day, and Raidō would walk in any second now to scold them for avoiding their paperwork. When Genma looked up, he was met with the most brilliant and heartfelt grin.

"I missed this," Tonbo said, wearing a kind of nostalgic expression that Genma had never seen before. "Every time I had a mission, all of those stupid meetings... I always caught myself wishing that I was back _here_. But... that's not gonna happen again, is it."

It wasn't a question, and Genma was glad- he had no idea how to answer that. He didn't know exactly what was going to happen to the ROOT agents. He knew that many were going to be offered the chance to go back into active duty after a probationary period, but he wasn't sure how that applied to undercover agents like Tonbo. It didn't seem likely that he would get reassigned to the same department that he'd been spying on for years.

"All actions have consequences," Genma said finally, nudging the warm plates on the cart just to have something to occupy his hands. "Unintentional or not, _malicious_ or not, there is going to be an impact. Whether it's good or bad depends entirely on fate."

Tonbo snorted. "Yeah, sure. If you see fate, kick their ass for me, alright? 'Cause I've got a bone to pick, and I'm not gonna be able do it from in here."

"That's fair," Genma said cheerfully, though his smile was fraying at the edges. "I have to get going. Try to stay out of trouble, okay?"

He was expecting some kind of smartass reply, but there was nothing. He caught a fleeting glimpse of his old coworker's face, and Tonbo suddenly looked unbearably lonely. Genma had to turn away.

He passed out the food to the other inmates, itching to be done so that he could go get some dinner of his own. It was getting pretty late, after all.

And that was all going fine until he reached the final cell. It was of that clone kid- what was his name again? Well, whatever. Genma wasn't really suspicious until he accidentally bumped into the door, and it opened without a hint of resistance. One look inside confirmed his immediate suspicion- _there was no one inside._

Oh, _shit_.

/=\

"What do we _do?_ "

"Where the _hell_ did he go?"

"Who cares about that! What _idiot_ was on guard duty?"

"Everyone, calm down!" Minato shouted, slamming his hands down on the table. Ino winced, but the spike of killing intent certainly did its job in shutting everyone up.

Standing next to her with their hands intertwined, Sakura and Ino shared a commiserating look. As soon as Genma had burst out of the cell area and into the front entrance with his news, the whole place had exploded into panicked yells.

Seriously, this was not what she thought her first week as a jounin would go. Ino had been so excited to join the intelligence division, like her father before her, but when she'd invited her girlfriend to come see her new workplace, this hadn't been how she'd expected it to go. Maybe she should have, though- nothing _ever_ went the way you expected it to in Konoha.

"Now that we can _finally_ hear each other speak," Minato said sternly, giving them all a scolding look. "Let's start with what we know."

"Raiden-san has snuck out somehow," Raidō frowned, the action pulling lightly on the scars decorating his face. "It had to have happened at least a couple of hours ago, since we've been here and on alert ever since we got back from the meeting."

"He didn't try and go meet up with Danzo," Genma added. "We would've been notified immediately if he had."

"So, the question we need to ask here is not _how did he get out_ , but _where did he go_ ," Ibiki pointed out, looking distinctly unhappy at the proof that someone had escaped his prison.

"Maybe," Ino started, before uncharacteristically hesitating. She didn't want to look bad in front of all these people- the fucking Hokage was here, damn it! But when Sakura squeezed her hand encouragingly, she squared her shoulders and continued on. "I mean, what if he didn't have a set destination? What if he just... _left?"_

"Would you care to elaborate, Yamanaka-san?" Minato said politely, though his brow was furrowed in thought as he contemplated her suggestion.

"Well, he's fought in the name of ROOT his whole life, right? He worshipped Danzo as if he were a _god_. But none of that exists anymore. As far as Raiden knows, ROOT has been permanently disbanded, Danzo's gone insane, and his entire reason for existence was nothing but a big lie!" Ino ranted, her anger gifting her with courage. "I wouldn't be surprised if he just decided to leave and never come back. What does he have to lose?"

There was an uneasy silence at that claim. Each of them, in their own way, was dealing with feelings of guilt and regret towards the ROOT agents. Even Ino, who realistically could not have done much even if she had been aware of what was going on, felt like she had to make up for her shortcomings in this event.

"While that may be so, we can't have him just _walk away_ ," Ibiki said tersely. "Who knows what kind of information he has hidden up in his head- even if we're at peace right now, I don't want to take the risk."

"The seal was never taken off of him, though," Sakura interjected briefly. She'd been helping with the removal process for the other ROOT agents, and had access to the files. "He couldn't say anything important even if he tried."

"Regardless, it's still a big risk," Minato sighed, leaning against the table slightly. "And I can't, in good conscience, just let him disappear without at least trying to explain things. And think of Sakumo- there's no way he'll let this go. Weird genetically altered clone or not, Raiden is still his son."

"So now we're back to square one," Genma said, sounding a bit exasperated. "Where did he go?"

Everyone paused for a moment, thinking it through, when Sakura and Ino shared an epiphany.

"His partner!" They both said at once.

"What?"

"Raiden has a partner who he's spent most of his life with, correct?" Sakura explained, gesturing towards the cellblock to emphasize her point. "If _anyone_ would know where he went, it would be him!"

"Excellent, Sakura-san!" Minato beamed, standing up straight to address the whole room. "Alright, Genma, Raidō, Ibiki, Sakura-san and Yamanaka-san, you're with me. Everyone else, get back to work!"

There was grumbled assent, but the group he'd called followed him obediently to Kinoto's cell. When they got there, the agent was groggily waking up.

"What's going on?" he asked sleepily, once he'd been pulled out of his cell. "Did something happen?"

" _Raiden_ happened," Ibiki growled. "He's vanished."

Now, _that_ sure woke Kinoto up.

"What?" he gasped, eyes wide with genuine shock. " _How?_ "

"The _how_ of it doesn't matter," Genma cut in, arms crossed with a look of frustration on his face. "We need to know _where_. And we figured that you would have a better answer to that than the rest of us."

"...Maybe," Kinoto said slowly, finger tapping on his chin in thought. "I can definitely list off a bunch of places that he wouldn't go. And I might have an idea to where he'd want to go if he was free to make that choice for himself, but it'd be better not to take the risk. If you really want to track him down, ask Tonbo for help. He could track Raiden's chakra from five countries away."

"Right," Minato said, and he gestured Raidō to Tonbo's cell. The older shinobi obeyed, bringing Tonbo back with him.

"Well, well," Tonbo's face twisted in a cruel smirk, and Ino could feel her hackles going up. "Looks like someone didn't take my advice. Not surprised. Raiden really does look a sad kitten sometimes, doesn't he? Or would that be a sad _puppy_."

"So you knew who he was?" Sakura asked sharply, fists clenching at what she interpreted to be severe disrespect to the Hokage.

"Of course I did," he snorted, shaking his head in a mournful manner. "It's not like it was that hard to figure out, once you spent a little time with him. I mean, _damn!_ I'm blind, and I _still_ figured it out faster than you guys!"

"Enough!" Ibiki snarled, stepping forward in an intimidating move that Tonbo ignored entirely. "That's not why we called you out here. We need to know where-"

"Where Raiden's escaped to, I know. You guys aren't exactly having a subtle conversation."

"So, will you do it?" Minato asked, cutting Ibiki off before he could retort.

Tonbo smirked, but Ino noticed that it was a slightly different expression than the one before. More... soft, perhaps. Soft, and yet _angry_ at the same time.

"Yeah, I'll track him down for you. Not a problem."

"Good," Minato nodded, then turned to address the rest of them. "Assemble a team, Genma, Raidō. And ask the Hatake's if they wish to participate. They have the right, as his clan."

"Can I come too?" Kinoto asked, shifting from one foot to the other in an unconscious gesture.

"Yes, we'll need you to talk Raiden-kun down if it comes to it," Minato said, holding Kinoto's gaze seriously, before sweeping a look over the rest of them. "Alright, we don't have any time to waste! He's already several hours ahead of us. Let's move!"


	23. Monkshood

["Monkshood"- _Beware; A Deadly Foe is Near_ ]

* * *

The speaker was a strange, malformed being. It's skin was split down the middle, like some kind of weird mirror image.

Basically, it was creepy as fuck.

Raiden backed up, hand going to his waist until he remembered that his tanto was still in the custody of T&I. _Damn it._

"Oh, c- _ome_ on," it said, yellow eyes seeming to pierce right through Raiden's own. "Was _just_ tr-ying to sa-y _hi_."

It's mouth curled upwards into a fanged smile, teeth dyed a dull crimson. Suddenly, Raiden got the feeling that he knew where the bodies had went.

"Hello," he replied, expression guarded as he tried to figure out what this thing really wanted. "Who are you?"

It seemed more polite than saying _what are you_ , at least.

"Zetsu," it bowed, just slightly, and Raiden found himself automatically doing the same.

"Alright, Zetsu. Is there something I can do for you?"

"N-ot for _me_ ," it's grin grew wider, impossibly wider. "Thou-gh I'm _sure_ that you would m-ake a _tast_ -y snack."

Raiden could not possible express just how much he wanted to be out of this conversation.

"Thank you...?"

"No _pro_ -blem," it chuckled, the sound incredibly disturbing coming from that raspy, two-toned voice. "I might _get_ a bit-e yet. But for now, the Boss Lady _needs_ you."

"Excuse me, but I really think it's time that I got going-"

"Yep, _we_ weren't su-re if Danzo was _going_ to p-ull through or not," Zetsu continued, walking forwards with a jagged, sloping pace. Raiden dodged to the side, but it turned out be unnecessary. Zetsu continued past him, stopping in front of the weird demon statue. "I _think_ giving him the knowledge of all tho- _se_ possible futures might have brok-en his brain a bit. _Oh_ well. As long as he helped to accom-plish our goal, we di-dn't really care what he di-d in his _free_ time."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Raiden said warily, inching closer to the exit, though his curiosity stopped him from making a break for it.

"W- _hy_ , you're part of _the_ agre-ement," Zetsu said, turning to reach out with a white hand, resting it gently on the base of the statue. "We _tried_ ev-ery other option, and it never worked. No ma-tter who _we_ killed, who we le-t live, the outcom-e never _chan_ -ged. So, why _not_ make som-eone entirely new? Honestly... I was skeptical on whether _it_ would actu-ally work. Is it really possible to cre-ate _something_ out of _n_ -othing?"

(Raiden bit his lip, the voice in his head getting louder and louder.)

"Though I supp- _ose_ we'll _never_ know."

("They told me that you were the key-")

"Because you aren't entirely new, _**are you?**_ "

Raiden let out a strangled gasp, falling to his knees. He clutched his head, knowing that he would be screaming in pain if only the sound would leave his mouth.

( _It was so beautiful here-_

 _"Promise to write?"_

 _It was beautiful here but you missed your home-_

 _"Just don't forget us, okay?"_

 _But flying, oh, you could never regret the feeling it brought you-_

 _"Make sure you be careful! I'd like to have you home in one piece, if it's possible."_

 _No, no, no, **no** -_)

Raiden's eyes snapped open. _The voice was gone_. Maybe it had never even been there in the first place, just his mind trying to tell him, trying to _warn_ him-

"Are _you_ do-ne?" Zetsu said, sounding a little annoyed. "Not that it isn't thrilling, wat-ching you _writhing_ in p-ain on the ground, _but_ I do actu-ally have stuf-f to do _today_."

"Oh yeah?" He (his name was _Raiden_ now, remember, _you chose it_ ) sneered, tilting his head up in challenge. He wasn't sure where the attitude was coming from- had he always been this way? Or was it a bleed through of the Before? "Like what? 'Cause I gotta say it now; not interested."

"It's cute that you thi-nk you have a ch-oice," Zetsu snorted. Under his hand, the statue bulged.

Okay, _that_ was it. Raiden was half out of his mind, had a migraine the size of the Hokage mountain, and felt ready to stab someone in the fucking face for dumping all this on him, but even he knew when to get the hell out.

Dizzily getting to his feet, he tried to gain his balance as the world swam in front of his eyes. But Raiden had been trained to work in worse conditions, though rapidly gaining memories from your past life, was probably not what Senpai had been thinking when they'd been working with him, so he doggedly kept moving, discarding all subtlety and sprinting for the exit.

Yeah, he was definitely not interested in sticking around and seeing what kind of horror movie bullshit was gonna be happening next.

Behind him, he heard a deafening roar, and Zetsu's creepy laughter. Raiden could almost see the light of the cave entrance up ahead, when a pair of white-clad arms circled around his neck, pulling him back into a loose embrace.

"You're not leaving _already_ , are you?" the woman cooed, staring down at him with manic eyes. Her body was almost transparent, and her arms had a peculiar weight to them, like what Raiden imagined a dense cloud would feel like.

"W-who-" Raiden croaked out, body suddenly feeling heavy and exhausted.

"I'm Kaguya," she answered, and her smile was beautiful like a poisonous viper. "And I must thank you for actually being _stupid_ enough to come here on your own. Makes things much easier on my part."

"But, _why_ -" Even as he sleepily murmured his question, he knew the answer. The _bodies_. All those kekkai genkai users he'd killed, all the specialists he'd tracked down and dumped in this damn cave... Zetsu may have disposed of the bodies, but their _chakra_ -

"Well, I tried many times to use the tailed beasts, but it never worked. As long as that Uzumaki boy had the Kyuubi, I never won. Even in the few scenarios where I did win initially, he just went back in time and undid all my hard work! I mean really, how _rude_."

 _What the fuck is she even talking about?_ Raiden thought to himself, trying to shake off the fog enveloping his brain.

"So, when we restarted this time, I decided to improvise," Kaguya continued, drawing Raiden closer to her as she did. "The Hatake clan chakra is extremely potent, did you know? I never managed to get my hands on the other two- not even if I had all of my Zetsu attack the village directly. They've always been such a small clan that there was barely any opportunities in the first place. But now... Now I have you. And _that's all I need._ "

Her arms tightened around his neck, slowly beginning to choke him. Around them, strange pools of white goop began to seep into being, morphing into a contingent of Zetsu- all white, with fanged grins. Using the last bit of his strength, Raiden flailed his arms in a last-ditch effort at escape.

And in doing so, elbowed her right in the face.

"You little jackass!" Kaguya howled, clutching at her nose. Raiden took the chance while it was still there, and made a break for it. Eyes watering, she pointed after the fleeing shinobi and commanded her Zetsu to follow. "Don't just stand there, you idiots! Bring him back here! I need to absorb the rest of his chakra!"

Raiden was barely able to make his way into the clearing outside the cave entrance before the white Zetsu swarmed him.


	24. Primrose

["Primrose"- _I Can't Live Without You_ ]

* * *

Kinoto strapped on his gear, filled with nervous energy. In a way, this was kind of like his first real mission as a Konoha shinobi. He'd waited a long time, but now that it was here... He couldn't find any joy in it.

Though maybe that was to be expected. After all, the purpose of this mission was to hunt down his best friend.

He drummed his fingers along the sheath of his tanto, itching for something to do. Anything to distract him from the direction his thoughts were going.

"Hey, Kin!"

Kinoto looked up, startled, and for a split second he thought that his partner was there, nudging him in the side with that constant, mischievous grin.

But it wasn't Raiden. It was Tonbo, with a knowing look on his face, as if he could sense exactly what Kinoto had been thinking. Thankfully, for the first time in his life, he kept his mouth shut and simply handed Kinoto another tanto.

"Uh... Thanks?" Kinoto said confusedly, awkwardly strapping it to his belt.

Tonbo let out a huff, raising a hand to his forehead to sigh dramatically. "Oh, my dear child, it's not for you. It's for Raiden. Once we find him, he's going to want his sword back, hm?"

"So, you _are_ going to track him down," Kinoto confirmed, slightly relieved by the fact. There'd been no real guarantee, after all. Tonbo said a lot of things, but he rarely meant them. It was just as likely that he'd lead them all on a wild goose chase as it was that he'd keep his word.

"Well, what can I say," Tonbo shrugged, hands in his pockets. He wasn't typically a combat type, so he didn't carry any weapons for obvious reasons. "Raiden has always been my favorite."

Something about that innocuous statement sent warning signals to Kinoto's brain.

"Alright. Just don't screw us over on this, okay? 'Cause it won't just be the two of us who pay the price."

/=\

When the group headed out of the main gates, Obito could almost taste the tension in the air. The two ROOT agents were leading the charge, the blind one in front. Other than that, Genma and Raidō were bringing up the rear, Rogu was running alongside them with his usual blank expression, and Sakumo and Kakashi were on either side of him, both practically vibrating with anticipation.

When Sakumo had stormed into their apartment the other night, Obito could safely say that the revelation of the existence of another Hatake was about the last thing that he was expecting.

To think that Kakashi had a younger brother- well, a _half_ -brother at least. It was so strange, imagining a mini version of Kakashi running around, causing mayhem wherever he went. Actually, now that he thought about it, it wasn't _that_ strange.

Seemed like just the kind of thing that would happen in Konoha, really.

"How much farther do you think this is gonna be?" Obito called out, jumping ahead a little bit so that he could be closer to the Hyuga leading them.

"Mm, not much," he answered, still running swiftly through the woods with a deadly determination clear on his face. "I can sense him not too far away. Another twenty minutes, maybe?"

"Alright, sounds good," Obito agreed, pulling back slightly to be next to Kakashi. He glanced at his teammate, seeing the dark cast to his face.

"Hey man, you alright?" he asked quietly, trying not to bring attention to their interaction and distract the others.

Kakashi grunted, expression stormy.

Obito sighed, wishing he could reach out and tangle their fingers together, but now really wasn't the time. Whatever was bothering him would have to wait until they actually found Raiden.

Sometimes he just wished that Kakashi could understand. That he could articulate his thoughts a little bit better, since despite assumptions, Obito was not a mindreader. But at the same time, he wouldn't be Kakashi if he didn't insist on locking all of his problems in the closet so that they would never be seen by human eyes again.

It _was_ kind of his signature thing.

The sharp crack of a tree branch breaking drew Obito out of his thoughts, and he glanced over to see Rogu leap ahead. _Curious_...

He locked eyes with Sakumo, nodding towards Kakashi. The jounin gave a weary smile in reply, and the two switched places, putting Obito next to Rogu instead. Hopefully, Kakashi's father would have an easier time getting to him.

Right now, he had some questions to ask.

"Were you chosen for this mission?" Obito asked when he got within range. "I thought you were still working with your genin team."

"Mm, I was," Rogu replied, eyes narrowing slightly. "But Orochimaru asked me to do this for him as a favor."

Obito nearly tripped. "Oh, really?"

"Sakumo _is_ his husband," Rogu reminded him, the younger shinobi sounding faintly exasperated, as if he had to reiterate this fact all the time. "That means this involves him too. But he was still working on removing the seals on the other ROOT agents, so he couldn't afford to be missing for too long. So, it's only smart to send me. I'm stronger than Mitsuki."

"So if anything goes wrong..." Obito murmured, darting a quick glance at him shrewdly.

Rogu inclined his head, a confirmation of what they both knew.

The others were too soft. If it came to that point, someone needed to be able to end it.

There was a heavy kind of stillness in the air.

"Why did you agree?" Obito wasn't even sure why he asked. It didn't matter in the end. But still...

Rogu eyed him for a moment, before letting out a quiet sigh.

"Raiden is Sakumo's son," he said simply, as if that was all there was to it.

Obito smiled, just a bit. Maybe it was.

 _Family is family, always._

/=\

Sakumo didn't try to talk to Kakashi. He knew it would do no good. They were both struggling with the same feelings after all, the aftershocks that came with an event like this.

To be honest, Sakumo still hadn't fully processed it. A _son_. He had another son. One who'd been put through hell, one who worshipped the same man that had ruined any chance of normalcy he might have had, one who most like _hated_ him.

It was a lot to swallow.

Sakumo shook his head, clearing his mind of such intense thoughts. He could have time for introspection later, after he was finally able to explain everything to Raiden.

Oh god, did Raiden even _know_ -

Had anyone ever told him that Sakumo hadn't known about him? Damn it, had he been going on this whole time thinking that Sakumo just... didn't _want_ him? Thought that he _deserved_ being in ROOT?

"Tou-san," Kakashi said lowly, his one eye locked with Sakumo's own. "We're going to find him. Anything that happens after that is up to him."

Something in him softened, and at the same time he straightened his back.

"Yes," Sakumo replied, confident in himself for the first time since this fiasco started. "I know."

Kakashi smirked, the movement evident under his mask. "Good."

They spent the rest of their journey in a tense silence, though this time with anticipation, instead of nerves. Obito and Rogu spoke quietly as they ran, and Genma seemed to be having some sort of muted argument with Raidō.

"There!" the Hyuga agent called out. "He's up ahead. _With a shitload of other people!_ "

They all broke off from their pairs, racing ahead in preparation of a fight. Sakumo's heart was pounding, and it didn't get any better with the image that greeted them when they broke into the clearing.

Raiden was there, spitting and cursing as he tried to throw a bunch of oozing creatures off of him. They all had eerily wide smiles with fanged grins, and they seemed to be trying to absorb him into their many-limbed mass.

And for a moment, he imagined that it was Kakashi lying there, pinned down by a an enemy squad with no weapons or hope of escape.

Sakumo saw red.

"Get _off_ of him!" he snarled, leaping forward with all of his teammates by his side.

A lightning jutsu ripped through the strange creatures, Kakashi jumping in to drag Raiden out of the way.

Raiden sucked in a breath, coughing harshly. He accepted the tanto a worried Kinoto handed him without question, a vicious snarl on his face.

"The white Zetsu's multiply!" he barked out, and Sakumo was suddenly reminded that this was a person who had been trained for combat since the day he could walk. "I don't know what the hell the black Zetsu does, but there's only one of 'em, so somebody take it out quick. And whatever you do, don't let the floating lady touch you! She absorbs chakra or something, I don't know. All I know is that it fucking hurts! So stay on guard, and keep Kaguya away!"

That was the only word they could get in before the Zetsu were upon them, screeching abominations trying to rip and tear.

Sakumo cut through them easily, his sword glowing with the white Hatake chakra. Next to him, a wild glint in his eyes, Raiden's tanto did the same. Sakumo's heart warmed at the sight, though it might have been nicer if they hadn't been in the middle of a life or death battle.

They worked their way through the battlefield, many of the pairs back-to-back as they battled against the horde. The Hyuga had snuck away somewhere, so Sakumo ended up working with Rogu.

It wasn't so bad really- he had a similar enough style to Orochimari that Sakumo was able to follow his moves just fine.

Raidō's poison-coated sword easily sliced the Zetsu's in half, kokutō's black surface shining with the deadly substance. Genma was able to take out groups of the creatures at a time, his electrified senbon stopping them in their tracks.

Kakashi and Obito were doing fine as well, matching sharingan's spinning with dark energy. Kinoto and Raiden easily traded places, fighting together like they'd been doing it their whole lives, which... Arguably, they _had_ been.

Yes, Sakumo wasn't worried. He'd been up against worse odds, with no team to back him up. But at the same time... It seemed like no matter how many Zetsu's they cut down, more just emerged in their place.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sakumo saw a flash of white and hesitated for a split second, thinking it was Kakashi.

It wasn't.

The Zetsu latched onto his arm, even as he cursed and tried to yank it away. Raiden's tanto stabbed down, slicing the creature off of him.

"Thanks for the-"

"We need to get rid of the original," Raiden said impatiently, twirling his sword to flick the goop off of it. "I bet it we destroy that, they won't be able to make clones of themselves anymore."

"Right," Sakumo nodded, ignoring the snub in favor of winning the battle. "Where is it?"

"By the cave entrance!" he called back, already heading in that direction. Sakumo followed after a glance to make sure that Rogu and Kinoto were watching out for one another.

The two made their way through the battlefield, dodging grasping white hands. He could see the woman with long white hair- Kaguya, he thought Raiden had called her. She was hovering in the air, watching the spectacle with the most amused expression. As if this whole thing was meaningless, and the end was going to be inevitable.

Determination fueled him, and Sakumo pressed on with a wolf's snarl. Losing was not an option.

The Zetsu - different from all the others, one half of it black with an eerie golden eye - was standing there smirking arrogantly, just like its mistress. But when it saw them coming for it, the creature blanched, turning as if to flee from the wolf's hunt.

"Oh no you don't!" Raiden yelled, Sakumo letting out his own battle cry as they stormed it.

" _RAIGEKI!/HAKKŌ CHAKURA TŌ!_ "

Raiden's lightning attack stopped the bi-colored Zetsu in its tracks, and it cursed as it began to split in half, the black part attempting to escape. But it never got the chance, Sakumo's white chakra saber burning it from the inside out.

Kaguya let out a cry of dismay, driving them away from the cave before they could go any further.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Sakumo shouted, trying to be heard over the din of battle. And where the hell had that Hyuga gone?

"The statue!" Raiden yelled, stabbing a Zetsu that tried to bite his shoulder. "That's where she came from! _Destroy the statue!_ "

"NO!" Kaguya shrieked, swooping down to prevent Genma from rushing the cave. "I don't have enough power yet! You _won't_ beat me again!"

"I think we just did," came a voice from behind her.

Kaguya spun around, unable to stop her eyes from widening as Tonbo slipped from the cave's entrance. Moments later, there was a huge explosion as the whole mountain seemed to collapse behind him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said with false sympathy, tilting his head to the side mockingly. "Was that statue important? It _did_ look like an antique..."

" _You're nobodies!_ " she howled, looking like she would be attempting to claw Tonbo's face off if she wasn't getting more transparent by the second. "You would've died, alone and forgotten, if I hadn't put that boy here!

"I may be a nobody," Tonbo said cheerfully, small bits of stone and dirt raining down behind him. "But I still kicked your ass just fine. So really, this is a fitting end for you."

Kaguya let out an unholy screech, the sound tapering away into nothing as her body simply... vanished. The last few Zetsu, left without any allies to save them, were quickly eradicated with one shot of Kakashi's chidori.

"Yes," Tonbo murmured, the sound still traveling clearly to all the others on the battlefield, Sakumo included. "A quiet, pathetic death. That _definitely_ suits you."

/=\

For a moment, no one moved. They were too wired up, eyeing the puddles of white goop with wariness.

When still nothing happened, Raiden thought that he could have collapsed with relief. God, he could sleep for a week.

"So... What exactly was that all about?" Obito said, scratching the back of his head with a bemused expression.

"Honestly? I have no fucking idea?" Raiden answered, pinching the bridge of his nose with a groan. "Something about taking over the world? Different realities, alternate futures? All I know is that it was fucked up, and that Danzo was somehow involved."

 _Oh yeah, also I was apparently reincarnated or something. I suppose that makes up for a bit of my weird traits, like knowing other languages and terminology for things that don't exist. Surprise!_ He decided to keep that bit to himself. Somehow, he had a feeling that it wouldn't really go over well.

"Not surprising," Tonbo snorted, still looking extremely satisfied with himself. "Anything that old bastard touched got fucked up."

A small part of Raiden bristled indignantly at the quip that insulted the man he'd given everything for, but the larger part of him was just _tired_. Of _everything_.

And it seemed like he wasn't the only one. The group staggered together to the center of the clearing, some leaning on each other for support as they waited for the debrief.

"Well, I say that we worry about this stuff later. The Hokage can send a team to clean all this up, find out more about what was going on with that statue. C'mon," Sakumo said, looking exhausted but satisfied. "Let's get back to Konoha. There's still a lot of work to do with all the mechanics of rehabilitation-"

"Yeah, _about_ that," Raiden interrupted flatly, staring back at the man with just a hint of defiance. On the other side of the clearing, Kinoto paled, as if he'd just realized something. Tonbo smirked, a spiteful little thing. "I think we need to talk."


	25. Stephanotis

["Stephanotis"- _Desire to Travel; Happiness in Marriage_ ]

* * *

Sai was awake and up before the sun rose, as was proper. But this morning... he didn't have much to do. He clambered out of bed, walking over to the window on silent feet.

There was an empty canvas in front of the windowsill. He hadn't been able to bring himself to paint anything on it yet. Somehow, he felt that it would make things be too _real_.

It was hard to believe sometimes, the direction his life had gone. He'd thought that he would die in service to ROOT, die with no one to know his name or face. It was hard to think of what to do in life, now that he didn't have a sword hovering ominously above his head.

But maybe that was his new direction. Maybe this was his new chance.

Sai took a look outside at the rising sun, and picked up his paintbrush.

/=\

"Hey, Shin!" a voice called out excitedly, and he turned to see Shisui rushing towards him. "You here to see Sai?"

"Well, what other reason would I be in the Uchiha compound?" Shin teased, leaning forward to grab Shisui's hand.

He pouted. "Oh, I don't know? To see your awesome boyfriend maybe?"

"That doesn't sound like something I would do," Shin said seriously, though he laughed when Shisui let out an offended squawk.

"Man, you're so mean to me!" he complained, puffing his cheeks out like an indignant child. "See if I ever come visit you again."

Shin kissed his cheek, gently. "Oh, you will. My apartment has all of your favorite snacks."

"Damn, you're right."

"I always am," he replied smugly, and laughed again when Shisui only complied with a grumble. Then there was a hand on his chin, and he turned with a bemused look.

Shisui pulled him into a kiss filled with soft things, the opposite of the kind that he'd received on any of his honeytrap missions.

Shin wasn't ashamed to admit that he liked this type of kiss much better.

/=\

"You ready to go?" Naruto questioned, practically bouncing in place with his excitement. "If we don't hurry, the others will beat us there!"

Honoka nodded, smiling back at him after she took a moment to put the rest of her seal designs in the folder.

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, running down the stairs to head out into the streets. Honoka followed, his chants of 'Ramen, Ramen, Ramen!' making him very easy to track.

Eyes followed them, but how could they not? Naruto was brighter than the sun, and his kindness flowed out of him in waves of golden light.

It was something Honoka had never experienced before. She thought that it was absolutely wonderful.

In the back of her mind, Honoka remembered a village that taught her to be still and silent and pretty. She remembered a man who came to her and whispered, "You can be better, you can be more."

She remembered following him. She remembered regretting it.

But none of that mattered now. Here, in this present time, she was able to create her own existence, make her own path in life. Here, she had family that was willing to care for her even when she didn't follow their every word.

Konohagakure wasn't perfect, by any means. It was pretty on the outside with something fractured deep within. Just the kind of place that she belonged in.

 _Maybe_ , Honoka thought to herself, following along with Naruto's exuberant chatter, _maybe we can find a way to heal each other._

/=\

 _Are you happy now, with the way things are?_

Tsuchi remembered when Honoka had asked him that, many years ago. He'd just come back from an assassination, covered in blood and filled with shame.

 _Are you happy now?_

No, Tsuchi had very rarely experienced happiness in this life. He'd lived at an overcrowded, understaffed orphanage for the beginning of his childhood, and the rest of it had been spent in the cold barracks of ROOT headquarters. Places like that didn't allow much space for happiness.

"My youthful comrade, let us continue with these wonderful exercises!" Gai boomed, grinning widely at him from where he was upside down in the tree.

Tsuchi laughed. It was a small, choked thing, but it was growing with every day.

 _Yes. Yes, I'm happy now._

/=\

Yota whistled to himself, walking leisurely through the forest. He tilted his head back with a happy sigh, letting the soft breeze lift up his ponytail.

Man, this was the life.

His falcon trilled above him, going in lazy circles around his head. Today was a good day. It wasn't always. Somedays, Yota looked back to the south. Somedays, he imagined he could see the walls of Konoha in the distance, and cursed himself for turning away.

But on good days, he knew better. On good days, Yota could see all of the beautiful things this world had to offer, things he could never touch if he stayed behind Konoha's gate. On good days, he met people- shinobi, samurai, civilians, survivors, who he never would have met or known or loved if he had stayed there.

On good days, when he was walking down the dirt path and through fields and by rivers, he could hear the sound of marching feet following him. He could hear the laughter of his clansmen on the wind, his nomadic people that had drifted where they pleased and loved with all their hearts.

Yota loved days like that. They reminded him that he was alive.

He let out a shrill whistle, calling his falcon to him.

"Hey, pal," he said, stroking the bird's feathers with gentle hands. "Mind making a quick delivery for me? I think I've finally worked up the courage, now."

/=\

"Oh, going on lunch break already?" Kabuto said, smiling that damn, insincere grin of his. "Well, I suppose someone in your position has to take all the opportunities you can."

Yūto wanted to stab him. Forget Danzo, Kabuto was more of a thorn in his side than that old bastard could ever be.

"Yes, I _am_ actually," Yūto said, hiding his murderous impulses behind a saccharine grin. "So if you have a question for me, as your _senior officer_ , I'd really appreciate it if you could wait until I'm done."

Kabuto's expression soured. Yūto tried not to be too overtly gleeful about it.

"Actually, I came to give you this," Kabuto handed over a small scroll, tied with a golden ribbon. "A falcon dropped it off for you at the front desk. Don't worry, I didn't peek."

But for once, Yūto didn't care about that.

That's Yota's ribbon, he thought, and found himself grow cold.

With a sigh, he took it. He unfurled the scroll, taking special care of the ribbon, and read the message inside with a heavy heart.

 _I know that you're angry with me. I know you expected me to stay. But I've worked too hard and lost too much to let someone dictate my actions now. I won't ask you to forgive me, but I will say this: the next time we meet, I hope it will be as equals._

 _I hope someday we can be friends, and we won't be afraid of ourselves anymore._

 _-Y_

Yūto just stared, for a moment. This was... perhaps the last thing that he had expected. It was true, though. When Yota had left, he had felt so angry. But more than that, he'd been sad. He'd thought that his partner was abandoning him, that he'd done something _wrong_.

Of course, he knew that it wasn't true. That nothing could fully contain the storm Yota had grown to be, and Yūto would be a fool to try and cage him.

 _It has taken me far too long_ , Yūto thought to himself ruefully, _to realize that I cannot control other people. That I can't own a human being._

He remembered being young and ill, so afraid to die that he would do anything for help, including work for a man who tried to own him. Own _all_ of them.

Yūto liked to think that he was better than that, now.

"So, tell me- what is it?" Kabuto asked, curiosity in the lines of his face as he tried to lean over Yūto's shoulder. "Did someone send you a _love letter?_ "

"It's a reminder," Yūto said simply, and took great joy in the momentary confusion overtaking the other's expression.

/=\

Fū looked at Torune, giving his partner's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. They were standing in front of the Aburame compound.

Fū may have had no interest in his own birth family, but Torune was not the same as him. And he would be here to support his best friend, to help him try and regain the love he'd once sacrificed everything for.

"Hey, you got this. And I'm here for you. So, together?"

Torune grinned shyly back, the expression barely visible over his high-necked jacket.

"Together."

They walked through the gate, heads held high. Shino was waiting for them on the other side.

/=\

Yakumo sat cross-legged on the bench on her balcony, looking down at the village. Somehow, the world just seemed so small.

 _Danzo is dead, and I'm still here_ , she thought to herself in an almost disbelieving tone.

"Never quite thought we'd make it this far, huh?" Izumi muttered, unknowingly echoing Yakumo's thoughts.

"Mm," she hummed in reply, turning to look at her partner. She reached out, gently placing a hand on Izumi's cheek. "No, not really. But I couldn't be any more grateful that we did."

Izumi blushed violently, sputtering at the display of affection. Yakumo laughed, leaning forward and giving them a quick kiss.

"As long as I'm here with you, I'm happy."

Izumi grumbled good-naturedly, returning the kiss. "Yeah... me too."

Yakumo beamed, linking their hands together. Things were so much easier now. No more hiding, no more lying. Her clan had tried to bring her back to their compound, but Yakumo had adamantly refused. She wanted nothing to do with the Kurama's- the relatives who had used and abused her as a child simply because she was able to properly use their kekkai genkai.

The Uchiha clan had thankfully left them alone. They'd offered assistance if the two of them needed it, but otherwise kept their peace. Yakumo suspected it was because Izumi hadn't completely disappeared from the eyes of the clan once they had joined ROOT. The perceived 'loss' didn't hit them quite as hard.

She was glad of it. She'd had enough of people trying to control her life. Izumi may have been willing to return to active duty, but Yakumo hadn't been the least bit interested. She was working at the library now. It was almost like working in the archives, but without the imminent threat of her identity being uncovered.

In other words, it was perfect.

Yakumo let out a deep sigh of contentment, a smile tugging at her lips as she watched the sun set on the Hokage mountain. Izumi was sitting next to her, looking like they were about to fall face first into their cup of tea, but staying awake with her nonetheless.

She took a sip of hot chocolate, letting the warm liquid drip down her throat. It tasted like victory.

/=\

"Y'know," Tonbo said, when the silence had once again grown too oppressive. "You don't have to stay."

Kinoto made a startled noise, the coffee in his cup sloshing around when he jumped. "U-um, what?"

"You don't have to stay," he repeated patiently. He'd been doing that a lot more recently. Being patient. Patient while he waited to find out where he would be living, patient as he was evaluated for the ability to do his goddamn job, patient while he was poked and prodded and asked gentle questions.

Patience, Tonbo had found, was a very hard thing to do.

"But where would I go?" Kinoto asked, for once a genuine question instead of a bitter oath. "My mother is here. My _village_ is here. I may have joined ROOT, but I did it out of loyalty to my home, not despite it."

"Yeah," Tonbo said, shoulders hunching up as he thought of dirty streets and cruel people. "I know. You were pretty obvious about it. But that's not everything, is it?"

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean, what about you? What about what _you_ want? You've been living your whole life trying to help this village-" and see what it's done for you, done _to_ you "-and I don't think anyone would blame for if you needed to get away from it all, even if only for a little bit."

Kinoto stiffened, and his face was suddenly painted with an ugly grin. "What, like _Raiden?_ Not all of us can just run away from our problems."

"Don't you dare," Tonbo snarled, slamming his cup back down on the table. "Don't do that to him. Don't discredit him like that. Yeah, you joined ROOT to get stronger and protect the village, but in case you forgot, most of us didn't _have_ a choice! Raiden was literally _born_ into it, and if I hadn't joined I would have been dead within a month. Not everyone got the same opportunities as you, so don't go standing on the moral high ground just because Raiden didn't want to stick around when the dust started to settle. He had every right to make that choice, and _he deserves better_ than to have you smear his name just because you're _jealous!_ "

There was a ringing silence. Kinoto made a broken sound, like the desperate gasping for air of a drowning man.

"H-he's my partner," Kinoto whispered hoarsely. "He's my _partner_."

Tonbo stood resolute, refusing to bend even in the face of such pain. "Then go find him, and tell him that."

 _I'm tired of watching you wither away. I'm still working on finding my place in this world, but I refuse to let it bury you too._

/=\

When he saw Raiden again, he looked different. His hair was shorter, and he didn't bother wearing a cloak. He no longer tried to avert his eyes, had stopped trying to fold himself away or smother his personality into something smaller, more _manageable_.

He looked happy.

"Uh, hi," Kinoto said, giving a short wave. He had a sudden flashback to the first time they had met, remembered being just as awkward and uncertain then.

"Kinoto?" Raiden gawked, eyes wide with disbelief. "Why are you here? Did you get sent out on a mission or something?"

"No, I was just, uh," he dug into the sand with the toe his boot, feeling a bit foolish. "I wanted to find you?"

When there was no reply, he looked up. Raiden had the most torn look on his face, half between wonder and suspicion. Kinoto didn't blame him. Their parting had not been kind.

" _Really?_ " he asked, and in that moment his voice was so small.

"Really," Kinoto said firmly, when they both knew he couldn't have answered anything else. "If you're willing to put up with me again, I'd like to stay."

 _With you_ , was the unspoken words, but they both heard it clearly.

"Well, if you insist," Raiden said with a teasing grin, and suddenly it felt like something in his heart just clicked back into place.

Later that night, they were sitting on the edge of a beach. Kinoto had never seen the stars reflected in the ocean before. There was a lot of things he hadn't seen before. Was this what Raiden had been doing, all this time alone? Discovering these things about the world, about himself?

"Hey, Kin?"

Kinoto made an enquiring noise and looked over, tightening his grip on Raiden's hand. The younger shinobi had never looked quite as happy as when he was staring up at the starry night sky.

"Have you ever thought about what it would be like to fly?"

* * *

 **notes** :

Well, here we are! Finally at the end. It's kinda strange, really. I had no idea that I was gonna make it this far! I had the story all planned out before I started writing, but as I was working a ton of twists and turns popped up that I had never anticipated!

So, I want to thank you all so much for sticking with me. It meant so much to me to see your comments and reactions. I managed to have some very pleasant conversations because of this story, and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed Raiden's story! Have a lovely new year, and I'll see you all in 2017. xx

(and hey! if you feel like learning some of the behind the scenes stuff on this story, check out my tumblr- [mm-mendell] I'll be doing a little 'in review' thing to talk about the story's stats and what the writing process was like!)


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